Weekends and public holidays count towards parental leave as unpaid absence if an employee does not return to work on the immediately following working day, the Department of Public Administration and Personnel has clarified in a circular.
How the calculation works
The department set out two examples for employees on a five-day working week.
In the first, an employee taking four consecutive working days of parental leave from Thursday of one week through to Tuesday of the following week must record unpaid absence from Thursday through to Tuesday — including the intervening weekend. Parental leave is charged only for the working days, in this case four-fifths of a week.
In the second example, an employee taking two consecutive working weeks of leave from Monday of the first week through to Friday of the second must record unpaid absence across the full period, including the first weekend. Parental leave is charged for the working days only, in this case ten days.
The department noted that the parental leave allowance, paid by the Social Insurance Services, also covers Saturdays and public holidays that do not fall on a Sunday.
Maximum leave entitlements
The maximum parental leave per child is 18 weeks and both parents are entitled to it. Leave is personal and non-transferable, though up to two weeks may be transferred between parents.
The entitlement increases to 20 weeks for parents of children with a disability, and to 23 weeks for widowed parents, single parents, parents where one party has been stripped of parental responsibility, or where one parent has not recognised the child.
Allowance duration
The state pays an allowance for part of the leave period. The number of weeks covered by the allowance increases with each child: eight weeks for the first child, ten for the second, twelve for the third, and fourteen for the fourth child and above.
For a child with a disability, the allowance period is extended by four weeks for serious disability or moderate intellectual disability, and by six weeks for total disability. In these cases, the allowance may be drawn until the child reaches the age of 21.