Mat leave for males

[munchkins]

DF has informed his work that anytime now he will need to take mat leave.
He has tried asking them what's involved and how it works, but they just keep on saying...
" when the time comes we will take care of it "


This does not settle well with me.. I want to know what were entilted to. With DD1 he was only in a casual position so didn't get any mat leave... He has been at his current work place for about 8 months now, and 5 of them he has been fulltime with the benefits..

Any adice or info would be great... we both know nothing about this and need to know how much leave we can afford to have him take...

Thankyou so much...

[Kaileysmum]

Hi
I'm not really sure if every award or employer is different or not, but my dp isnt entilted to any maternity leave....He didnt get it last time either (still with same employer full time), he just takes the time of and it comes out of his holiday pay and holiday time.

Personally I never thought the male was entilted to any type of maternity leave unless they are going to be the full time carer of the baby.

But as I said it might be different everywhere, seems strange his employer wont let him know what he is entilted to though????

[Sheer Bliss]

I am not 100% sure on this, but I thought that to be entitled to paternity or maternity leave you needed to be with the employer for minimum 12months. (it can be casual for 5months, permanent for 7months under the new award stuff) It also depends on if you are on an enterprise agreement/individual contract too. My DH was entitled to one weeks paid paternity leave and then he took a few more weeks in annual leave to stay at home with us longer.

Under the awards, (from what i understand - please feel free to correct me if I am wrong!) paternity leave is available as per individual company policy or unpaid paternity leave for up to 12months (or is it 24 now?) IF the mother is returning to work, and both parents are not to be off at the same time (ie this is for if the father will be the primary csregiver/SAHD).

From the sounds of it, your DH may have to take any annual leave or unpaid leave at the discretion of who he works for.

[missie_mack]

Do you mean parental leave?? Ie the unpaid leave you have to care for your baby?? Usually only one parent can do this at a time. Paternity leave can be taken when the baby is born while the mother is on leave also and may or may not be paid depending on their award/contract.

There would be legal requirements on taking the leave and notice periods but it would depend on whether he comes under state or federal legislation.

[NancyBlackett]

Any entitlements he has will be stated in either his contract, his award or his certified agreement (whatever form of employment agreement if he employed under).

Get him to dig out whatever he signed when he started working and see what is in that.

[munchkins]

Thanks so much for all your help girls... will get him to check when he gets home tonight

[Yummy_Mummy]

Charlis mum - i have heard the same thing as you about paternity leave..but again you would have to check with the employer of the entitlements!

Me & my Df were having this convo the other day about when the time comes what he will be doing!

[Izy]

My employer no longer has maternity leave, but parental leave, so that the primary carer is entitled to 12wks paid fulltime leave. In saying that you must be the primary carer. It is also only available when you have been permanent for 12months.

Double check- but they may be offering carers leave, annual leave or leave without pay as a good will gesture....

[dearcorrinne]

usually you need to be employed fulltime for 12months to recieve any beneifts either maternity leave or parental leave.

i was employed with my current employer for 10months before going on maternity leave.. bub is due 3 weeks before my 1 year anniversy.. so i wasnt actually entitled to anything.. i was given maternity leave for a year unpaid.. even though leave paid was only 2 weeks anyways(stupid workplace agreements).

dp has been with his employer casual for 6 months, full time for 6 months but as he would not have been fulltime for a year when bub is due he is not entitled to paid parental leave and needs to take annual leave, but his work actually told him he could take it as sick/carers leave whilst i was in labour and recoverying from the birth as long as he can get a doctor certificate that states he needed to help me care for during those dates. spoke to my gp and she is very happy to write out the certificate. so that is always another option you could look at.

as said by someone else.. look at his agreement or you could always call his HR department on his behalf. cause they sound like my work.. took them a month to write a letter for me to give to centrelink to state that i was on unpaid maternity leave.. recieved the letter today.. it says im on paid maternity.. so now i have to wait for another letter.. bub will most likely arrive before i recieve it because they are hopeless.

hth.

[kas3]

My DH is entitled to 1 week's paid paternity leave.