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Government tables amended parental leave bill

THE federal government has tabled the Fairer Paid Parental Leave Bill 2016, after an earlier 2015 Bill failed to pass through the previous parliament.

The new Bill was tabled on 20 October 2016 and is currently before the House of Representatives. It has both similarities and differences when compared with the 2015 Bill.

If passed, the new Bill as with the previous one, will mean parents can no longer receive the full amount of nationally-funded paid parental leave in addition to their employer-provided primary carer leave payments.

Parents who are entitled to employer-provided payments in excess of the parental leave payable under the national government-funded scheme will not receive any payments from the government if and when the legislation takes effect. Those employees will be solely reliant on employer-provided leave entitlements.

Parents who are entitled to employer-provided payments of less than the 18 weeks of government-funded leave (which totals $12,108.60 based on 18 weeks on the minimum wage of $672.70 a week) can have that leave “topped up” by the government-funded leave up to the 18 weeks.

Currently, full 18-week payments under the government-funded scheme are made to eligible primary carers irrespective of what they also receive from their employer and this is how the scheme has operated from its inception on 1 January 2011.

Under the new Bill, a person will be required to inform the Department of Human Services of any primary carer pay they are entitled to from their employer, and that amount will then be deducted from the government-funded 18-week leave entitlement.

The new Bill, as with the original Bill, also seeks to reduce the administrative burden on businesses by removing the current requirement for employers to act as “paymaster” in administering government-funded payments to employees.

If the Bill passes, employees will be paid directly by the Department of Human Services unless an employer “opts in” to provide government payments directly to employees, and employees consent.

The new Bill also proposes changes to the “paid parental leave work test” to take into account pregnant employees who are unable to continue working because of a risk to their pregnancy or because there was no safe job to transfer to.

A new s11A of the Bill defines the maximum paid parental leave (PPL) start day which has the effect of allowing a claimant to backdate their PPL period start day by 28 days before the date of an effective claim or verification of a child’s birth.

The Bill’s provisions will take effect for births and adoptions from 1 January 2017 onwards if the Bill passes through parliament before that date.

To see the new Bill, click here.

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