The new Paid Parental Leave (PPL) scheme kicks off on 1 January 2011 but, unfortunately, confusion reigns thanks to a number of inconsistencies between the new scheme and the current unpaid parental leave entitlement.
By David Bates, Manager of Employment Relations, Better HR – Australia’s number one online employment relations service
As you may know, employees who have completed 12 months of continuous employment are currently entitled to access up to 2 years of unpaid parental leave via the National Employment Standards (NES). However, the arrival of the new PPL scheme in some instances provides an entitlement to pay, but no actual entitlement to leave, meaning some employees will be able to receive the payment but won’t be able to take time off work!
So for employers – especially those running small and medium sized businesses – it means more headaches in the lead up to the Christmas break and beyond.
My team is keeping an eye on developments and we will be sure to update the blog accordingly. There will also be new content on the Better HR service and we’re running a special webinar session on 2nd February on what this new law means to your business. As there’s a six month transitionary period, we’ll outline your responsibilities and obligations that come into effect on 1 July 2011.
Paid Parental Leave webinar:
2 February 2011, 12:30 pm AEDST
