UPDATED: current from December 21, 2022
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Supporting parents with paid leave:
- Primary Caregiver: 18 weeks paid
- Secondary Caregiver: 4 weeks + 12 weeks = total 16 weeks paid
There are two parental leave entitlements: primary caregiver leave, and secondary caregiver leave.
Primary caregiver:
The primary caregiver is the person who has the main role of providing caring responsibilities for the child. Only one person can be a child’s primary caregiver. Your employer may need you to confirm your primary caregiver status.
What is the primary caregiver’s leave entitlement?
- Eighteen (18) weeks of paid leave from your chosen date (within 6 weeks before expected date of birth)
- Can be taken at half pay for 36 weeks
- Must be taken as one single block of leave
- You must give your line manager 10 weeks’ notice of your intention to take primary caregiver leave
Secondary caregiver:
The secondary caregiver is the person who also has parental responsibility for the child but is not the primary caregiver at the time of the baby’s birth.
What is the secondary caregiver’s leave entitlement?
- 4 weeks of paid leave from the time of the baby’s birth
- Additional long service leave (if accrued) or leave without pay
- 12 weeks of paid leave if you take over primary care responsibilities of the baby, for example: when the primary caregiver returns to work
- These 12 weeks must be taken within eighteen months (78 weeks) of the baby’s birth
You can take LWOP in addition to paid leave up to a total of 52 weeks leave. You may also be entitled to Government Parental Leave Pay, see this link for details: https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/parental-leave-pay
These entitlements are illustrated in the timeline below.
For more detailed information, click here for the full AEU Parental Leave and Child-Related Leave ESP Fact Sheet.
If you have any further questions contact your AEU organiser and Member Support Centre at the AEU office on (03) 6234 9500.
