Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR No. 35/2019
• Year: 2019

• Full Act
• Act by Section
• Act As Enacted
• Amendments
• PDF annotated
• PDF unannotated

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Number 35 of 2019

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PARENT’S LEAVE AND BENEFIT ACT 2019

REVISED

Updated to 1 July 2022

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This Revised Act is an administrative consolidation of the Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019. It is prepared by the Law Reform Commission in accordance with its function under the Law Reform Commission Act 1975 (3/1975) to keep the law under review and to undertake revision and consolidation of statute law.

All Acts up to and including the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022 (14/2022), enacted 30 June 2022, and all statutory instruments up to and including the Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019 (Section 29) (Commencement) Order 2022 (S.I. No. 362 of 2022), made 30 June 2022, were considered in the preparation of this Revised Act.

Disclaimer: While every care has been taken in the preparation of this Revised Act, the Law Reform Commission can assume no responsibility for and give no guarantees, undertakings or warranties concerning the accuracy, completeness or up to date nature of the information provided and does not accept any liability whatsoever arising from any errors or omissions. Please notify any errors, omissions and comments by email to

revisedacts@lawreform.ie.

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Number 35 of 2019

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PARENT’S LEAVE AND BENEFIT ACT 2019

REVISED

Updated to 1 July 2022

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Introduction

This Revised Act presents the text of the Act as it has been amended since enactment, and preserves the format in which it was passed.

Related legislation

This Act is not collectively cited with any other Act.

Annotations

This Revised Act is annotated and includes textual and non-textual amendments, statutory instruments made pursuant to the Act and previous affecting provisions.

An explanation of how to read annotations is available at

www.lawreform.ie/annotations.

Material not updated in this revision

Where other legislation is amended by this Act, those amendments may have been superseded by other amendments in other legislation, or the amended legislation may have been repealed or revoked. This information is not represented in this revision but will be reflected in a revision of the amended legislation if one is available.

Where legislation or a fragment of legislation is referred to in annotations, changes to this legislation or fragment may not be reflected in this revision but will be reflected in a revision of the legislation referred to if one is available.

A list of legislative changes to any Act, and to statutory instruments from 1972, may be found linked from the page of the Act or statutory instrument at

www.irishstatutebook.ie.

Acts which affect or previously affected this revision

• Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2021 (4/2021)

All Acts up to and including Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022 (14/2022), enacted 30 June 2022, were considered in the preparation of this revision.

Statutory instruments which affect or previously affected this revision

• Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019 (Section 29) (Commencement) Order 2022 (S.I. No. 362 of 2022)

• Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019 (Extension of Periods of Leave) Order 2022 (S.I. No. 333 of 2022)

• Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019 (Commencement) Order 2022 (S.I. No. 332 of 2022)

• Disability, Equality, Human Rights, Integration and Reception (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2020 (S.I. No. 436 of 2021)

• Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019 (Commencement) Order 2019 (S.I. No. 629 of 2019)

• Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019 (Commencement of Certain Provisions of Part 5) Order 2019 (S.I. No. 553 of 2019)

All statutory instruments up to and including Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019 (Section 29) (Commencement) Order 2022 (S.I. No. 362 of 2022), made 30 June 2022, were considered in the preparation of this revision.

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Number 35 of 2019

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PARENT’S LEAVE AND BENEFIT ACT 2019

REVISED

Updated to 1 July 2022

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PART 1

Preliminary and General

Section

1. Short title and commencement

2. Interpretation

3. Voidance or modification of certain provisions in agreements

4. Expenses

PART 2

Parent’s Leave

5. Entitlement to parent’s leave

6. Notification to employer

7. Allocation of parent’s leave

8. Commencement of parent’s leave where relevant parent entitled to maternity leave

9. Commencement of parent’s leave where relevant parent entitled to adoptive leave under section 6(1) of Act of 1995

10. Commencement of parent’s leave for a relevant parent entitled to paternity leave

11. Commencement of parent’s leave (early confinement)

12. Commencement of parent’s leave (change in day of placement or date of confinement)

13. Postponement of parent’s leave by employer

14. Postponement of parent’s leave in event of hospitalisation of child

15. Entitlement to parent’s leave on death of child

16. Entitlement of employed surviving parent to leave on death of relevant parent

PART 3

Employment Protection

17. Interpretation (Part 3)

18. Preservation or suspension of rights while on parent’s leave

19. Protection of employees from penalisation

20. General right to return to work on expiration of parent’s leave

21. Postponement of return to work

22. Provisions applying where employee not permitted to return to work

PART 4

Resolution of Disputes

23. Disputes regarding entitlements under Act

24. Decision under section 41 or 44 of Act of 2015

25. Burden of proof

PART 5

Parent’s Benefit

26. Amendment of section 21 of Act of 2005

27. Amendment of section 39 of Act of 2005

28. Amendment of section 58 of Act of 2005

29. Parent’s benefit

30. Amendment of section 238B of Act of 2005

31. Amendment of section 241 of Act of 2005

32. Amendment of section 248 of Act of 2005

PART 6

Miscellaneous

33. Amendment of Schedule 3 to Redundancy Payments Act 1967

34. Amendment of section 6 of Act of 1977

35. Amendment of Act of 1994

36. Amendment of Act of 1995

37. Amendment of section 126 of Taxes Consolidation Act 1997

38. Amendment of Act of 2015

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Acts Referred to

Adoption Act 2010 (No. 21)

Adoptive Leave Act 1995 (No. 2)

Children and Family Relationships Act 2015 (No. 9)

Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 (No. 24)

Civil Registration Act 2004 (No. 3)

Civil Service Regulation Act 1956 (No. 46)

Employment Equality Act 1998 (No. 21)

Industrial Relations Act 1946 (No. 26)

Interpretation Act 2005 (No. 23)

Local Government Act 2001 (No. 37)

Maternity Protection Act 1994 (No. 34)

Medical Practitioners Act 2007 (No. 25)

Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act 1973 (No. 4)

Paternity Leave and Benefit Act 2016 (No. 11)

Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 (No. 29)

Protection of Employees (Part-Time Work) Act 2001 (No. 45)

Protection of Employees (Temporary Agency Work) Act 2012 (No. 13)

Redundancy Payments Act 1967 (No. 21)

Redundancy Payments Acts 1967 to 2014

Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 (No. 26)

Social Welfare, Pensions and Civil Registration Act 2018 (No. 37)

Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 (No. 39)

Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 (No. 10)

Workplace Relations Act 2015 (No. 16)

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Number 35 of 2019

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PARENT’S LEAVE AND BENEFIT ACT 2019

REVISED

Updated to 1 July 2022

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An Act to entitle certain employees who are relevant parents in relation to a child to employment leave for the purposes of enabling them to provide, or assist in the provision of, care to the child; to entitle certain employees who are surviving parents in relation to a child to employment leave on the death of a relevant parent; to provide for the payment of parent’s benefit to certain persons and, for that purpose, to amend the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005; for those purposes to provide for the consequential amendment of certain other enactments; and to provide for related matters.

[24th October, 2019]

Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:

Annotations:

Modifications (not altering text):

C1

Functions transferred and references construed (14.10.2020) by Disability, Equality, Human Rights, Integration and Reception (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 2020 (S.I. No. 436 of 2020), arts. 2, 3(1)(a), (3) and sch., in effect as per art. 1(2), subject to transitional provisions in arts. 4-8. Note name of Department and Title of Minister changed from Children and Youth Affairs to Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (15.10.2020) by Children and Youth Affairs (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order 2020 (S.I. No. 437 of 2020).

2. (1) The administration and business in connection with the exercise, performance or execution of any functions transferred by Article 3 are transferred to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.

(2) References to the Department of Justice and Equality contained in any Act or instrument made under such Act and relating to any administration and business transferred by paragraph (1) of this Article shall, on and after the commencement of this Order, be construed as references to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.

3. (1) The functions vested in the Minister for Justice and Equality -

(a) by or under the enactments specified in Schedule 1, and

...

are transferred to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.

...

(3) References to the Minister for Justice and Equality contained in any Act or instrument made under such Act, and relating to any functions transferred by this Article shall, on and after the commencement of this Order, be construed as references to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.

SCHEDULE 1

Article 3(1)(a)

Enactments, functions by or under which are transferred from the Minister for Justice and Equality to...