What is my employer required to do?

Your employer must do the following:

Inform you of your parental leave entitlements

This information is available from www.ers.dol.govt.nz or by calling 0800 20 90 20 during business hours.

Consider, then approve or decline your request to take parental leave

After your employer receives your application for parental leave, they have seven days in which to ask for any required information you haven’t yet given them. This seven-day period starts from the day your employer learns that the application is incomplete. You must provide this additional information within 14 days.

Once they have received all the information, your employer must reply to the application within 21 days. The reply should state:

• Whether you are entitled to take parental leave, and if not, the reasons why not

• The main legal rights and obligations you have regarding parental leave, particularly those relating to when you can start your leave

• Whether or not your job can be kept open. If it can’t, the letter should explain that you are able to dispute that, and will have preference for similar jobs for six months after the end of the parental leave.

It is rare that an employer can decline leave. If you disagree with your employer’s decision, you can ask the Department of Labour to investigate the decision. For more information, see our factsheet What should I do if I have a problem relating to my parental leave?

Confirm your length of employment and salary details

Once you have agreed on your parental leave arrangements with your employer, you should fill in an application form for parental leave payments and send it as soon as possible to Inland Revenue. You can download an application form from www.ers.dol.govt.nz or have one sent to you by phoning the Department of Labour during business hours on 0800 20 90 20.

Once you and your spouse/partner (if you intend to transfer parental leave payments to them) have completed the application forms, you should ask your employer to verify the length of employment and salary details on the form. Your employer is not approving the payment, they are only confirming those details.

When your employer has completed this part of the application form, you should send it to Inland Revenue. Once your application has been processed, Inland Revenue will send you notification of whether or not you are entitled to paid parental leave, how much your will received and when you will receive your payments.

If your employer refuses to sign the application form you can request the assistance from the Department of Labour by phoning 0800 20 90 20 during business hours.

Confirm arrangements

Once the parental leave period has started, your employer must write to you to confirm the arrangements made. Your employer must do this within 21 days after the date you begin taking your leave. The letter must include the date you are due to return to work and remind you to write to the employer 21 days before returning to work. You are required to write to your employer 21 days before your leave ends and let them know if you are planning to return to work.

This page was last updated on: 04-Jul-2007 and is current.