Paid Parental Leave

[ronbro2020]

Hi There,
My baby was born on last week of December 2011. My wife was working full time permanent employee 14 months prior to that. she took unpaid leave from 1st week of dec 2011. I am fully eligible for 18 weeks paid parental leave. Today we lodged online application and submitted form what was given from hospital for Paid Parental leave. My wife is planing to return back to work in 2 weeks. I was just wondering what will happen now with my paid parental leave. I heard they wont date back the Paid parental leave or Baby bonus. I am bit worried. I guess because of my laziness I wont be able to get full payment of paid parental leave. Is there any other way I could try that. would the Family Tax Benefit be sufficient enough to compansate what I would have missed out on Paid parental leave.
Help needed,
Thanks in Advance,
Ronak.

[kw123]

I don't quite understand your post - why do you think you will miss out? Pretty sure you are not too late and will get the full payment if you are eligible. You may be eligible for FBT as well. Best to call Centrelink or go online.

[BigRedV]

You won't get the baby bonus if you get parental leave.

Also, they probably won't backdate it, but you should still get 18 weeks paid leave.

[ronbro2020]

Thanks BigredV,Yeah bt my wife is planning to start work in 2-3 weeks, and I just applied today.
I delayed it due to some other commitments because I anticipated that I would get the PPL from the time baby was born, and I borrowed some money from friend expacting I would still get the money from the time baby was born and I will be able to return the money.

[Pesca77]

The 18 weeks paid parental leave can be taken anytime after bubs is born, providing it's within 12 months. So if your baby was born Dec 2011 and you have just applied recently, you will still receive the full 18 weeks - but it won't be backpaid (as far as I understand). It will just start from acceptance of forms being submitted - that's how it was explained to me anyway.

This is providing your wife didn't use any of it herself already?? If so then you can only receive the weeks remaining, eg your wife had 10 weeks so you get 8 weeks etc

You are best to call Centrelink :)

[ronbro2020]

Thanks for your reply Pesca77,
I understand that, but she is planning to start the work in 2-3 weeks (I know its too early).
so what my question is, in that case would we still be eligible to get full pay even if she is working, or they will cease paying because she has started working.

[sunshine81]

As long as the application is for you, not her, you should receive it in full. Her going back to work has no impact on your payment

[ronbro2020]

As long as the application is for you, not her, you should receive it in full. Her going back to work has no impact on your payment.

Hi Sunshine81 - First thing I did application on her behalf (becasue she is overseas). and she is a primary application. another thing is does this apply even if I am working?
Thanks for your reply

[sunshine81]

Ahhh.

No, only applies if one of you is not working (doesn't matter who, but if it was you, you would need to cancel the original and re-submit in your name). There may be some issues with this depending on where they are at with processing - you would need to contact centrelink.

If she is returning to work, and you are still working, you will still be eligible for baby bonus.

[PorkyPies]

I'm confused. Did she have give birth in Australia? If the application is done in her name and she returns to work, payments will cease/she won't get PPL. If the application for PPL was done in your name and you are working, you won't get PPL.

Paid parental leave is for the parent who is NOT working. I had my paid parental leave backpayed from birth as it took 7 weeks for Family Assistance to process it, unsure if it's the same for a lack of lodging forms though.

[ronbro2020]

She did give birth in Australia, she went over seas to see her family for one month,
I will check whether they can back pay the money or not,
cheers

[ronbro2020]

so in that case, It would be best for me to apply for baby bonus, not PPL. they told me that I can tick both the options, and which ever is more eligible they will approve that.
One thing I was not sure, that baby bonus is backdated, or there is no such thing for that?
Thanks

[mim1]

It shouldn't be a problem for Baby Bonus as that doesn't get changed by working status. She does qualify for Paid Parental Leave, but I'm not sure if it can be backdated to the birth of the bub. They stop paying on return to work, so if that's when bub is 17 weeks old, then you only get 17 of the possible 18 weeks paid. If the start date of Paid Parental Leave is going to be now (which I suspect it will be given that you've just done all the forms) then she would only get 2 weeks pay and then it would stop and she wouldn't get the baby bonus instead, so that wouldn't work out well for you at all!

Don't let Centrelink choose for you. She's eligible for both, but that's not the same as working out which one is best for you - that's very different.

You haven't missed out completely. At worst she'll get the Baby Bonus. At best she might be able to get the PPL backdated to the birth & get the full entitlement.

[missie_mack]

I wouldn't think she would be entitled to apply if she is overseas. Most centrelink entitlements (like pension cards) are stopped when you are overseas.

[missmizchelle]

Just to clarify...Is paid parental lave paid out in installments or in bulk??

I'm hoping it gets paid out in installments..can you choose how you want to me paid?

Haven't applied yet...but will be doing so in the next few weeks

[kw123]

Mine was in bulk, which I prefer. Would much rather it was off-setting my mortgage than with the Government!

[Hamilicious]

Mine was paid in fortnightly installments. Centrelink forwarded the PPL to my employer and they paid it to me on my normal payday. It depends on when you want it to start - if you want it dated from the birth of your bub you'll probably get some in bulk as they'll 'back pay' it. Mine started six months after DS was born so plenty of time to process it.

[ingridfromhumanservices]

Hi there, I work with the Department of Human Services in a team that responds to questions about Centrelink payments and services on social media sites like this one. I just wanted to clarify that both Parental Leave Pay and Baby Bonus are paid in instalments, unless, as some people have pointed out, some of it needs to be back-paid.

Parental Leave Pay, which allows eligible working parents to get 18 weeks of government funded Parental Leave Pay at the rate of the National Minimum Wage (currently $606.50 per week before tax), is paid to you by your employer the same way they normally pay your wages. If your employer does not need to do this or you’re self-employed, we’ll pay you directly in fortnightly instalments. Baby Bonus, which is currently $5,000 per eligible child, is paid in 13 fortnightly instalments (please note, amounts current at date of posting). There's a handy factsheet which compares Parental Leave Pay and Baby Bonus here: http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/publications/fpr058 (http://www.humanservices.gov.au/customer/publications/fpr058)

:)

[missmizchelle]

^wonderful, Thanks so much :)