Kiddipedia
The Minister for Women, Kelly O’Dwyer, has announced amendments to the Paid Parental Leave scheme that will apply from 1 July 2020. This is a part of the Women’s Economic Security Statement.
While they are small changes, they have the ability to assist those that are self-employed and those who don’t have stable employment while pregnant and don’t meet the eligibility rules for Paid Parental Leave. This is provided through these two changes:
-
Splitting the Paid Parental Leave Period
Currently, the entire amount of Paid Parental Leave need to be taken in one 18 week block. This has been found to be problematic for many self employed parents who cannot be away from their businesses for such a large amount of time. One of the main rules of Paid Parental Leave is that you cannot be working whilst receiving the payments.
The new proposal will allow for the 18 weeks of payments to be taken in separate blocks that need to be taken with the first two years after the birth of their child. It looks like the first block of 12 weeks will need to be taken within the first year with the flexibility of the remaining 6 weeks over the two year period.
-
Changes to the Work Test
The current Work Test requires that you have worked for 330 hours across 10 months out of the 13 months before your due date – with no break between two work days greater than 56 days.
This is a problem for many parents who have irregular work, undertake contract work and those who need to leave their jobs early due to the hazardous work involved. This includes industries such as mining and construction.
The new proposal will see a greater break between two work days that the current 56 days. This will provide greater flexibility in meeting the Work Test as some of these factors are out of control of the parent during this period and they miss out on being eligible for Paid Parental Leave.
Other items that were included in the Women’s Economic Security Statement that are worth mentioning are establishing a forum on reducing Barriers to Work, supporting regional employers through the Career Revive initiative, extending early release of superannuation for victims of domestic and family violence and expanding the No Interest Loan Scheme to women experiencing family and domestic violence.
You also might like to read:
The Residency Test for Paid Parental Leave
