Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2019

JurisdictionIreland
CitationIR No. 11/2019


Number 11 of 2019


PARENTAL LEAVE (AMENDMENT) ACT 2019


CONTENTS

1. Interpretation

2. Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act

3. Amendment of section 6 of Principal Act

4. Amendment of section 7 of Principal Act

5. Amendment of section 8 of Principal Act

6. Amendment of section 11 of Principal Act

7. Amendment of section 27 of Principal Act

8. Short title, collective citation and commencement


Acts Referred to

Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2006 (No. 13)

Parental Leave Act 1998 (No. 30)


Number 11 of 2019


PARENTAL LEAVE (AMENDMENT) ACT 2019


An Act to amend and extend the Parental Leave Act 1998.

[22nd May, 2019]

Be it enacted by the Oireachtas as follows:

Interpretation

1. In this Act, “Principal Act” means the Parental Leave Act 1998 .

Amendment of section 2 of Principal Act

2. Section 2(1) of the Principal Act is amended by inserting the following definitions:

“ ‘specified Act’ means the Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2019;

‘specified day’ means the day on which the specified Act comes into operation;”.

Amendment of section 6 of Principal Act

3. Section 6 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (1):

“(1A) The reference in subsection (1) to a period of 18 working weeks shall be construed—

(a) in the period from 1 September 2019 to 31 August 2020, as a reference to a period of 22 working weeks, and

(b) on and from 1 September 2020, as a reference to a period of 26 working weeks.”,

(b) in subsection (2)(a) by substituting “attains the age of 12 years” for “attains the age of 8 years”,

(c) in subsection (2)(b)(ii) by substituting “attained the age of 10 years but not 12 years” for “attained the age of 6 years but not 8 years”, and

(d) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (8):

“(8A) Where, before the specified day, a person who is a relevant parent in respect of a child has not taken 18 weeks parental leave in respect of the child (and irrespective of whether the person was prevented from taking all or any of the parental leave by the operation of subsection (2) as in force before the specified day) then on and from the specified day this Act, as amended by the specified Act, shall apply to so much of the 18 weeks of parental leave as was not taken before the specified day in respect of that child.”.

Amendment of section 7 of Principal Act

4. Section 7 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (1)(a), by substituting “equal to the period referred to in section 6(1)” for “of 18 weeks”,

(b) in subsection (1)(aa)(ii), by substituting “the number of weeks referred to in section 6(1) in total,” for “18 weeks in total, or”,

(c) in subsection (1)(b)(iii), by substituting “subparagraphs (i) and (ii), or” for “subparagraphs (i) and (ii).”,

(d) in subsection (1), by inserting the following paragraph after paragraph (b):

“(ba) where an employee has taken leave pursuant to paragraph (a), (aa) or (b), periods each consisting of not less than 1 week.”,

(e) in subsection (2)(a), by substituting—

(i)“equal to the period referred to in section 6(1)” for “of 18 weeks” in each place where it occurs, and

(ii)“the relevant number times” for “18 times”,

(f) in subsection (2)(b), by substituting “, (aa) or (ba) of subsection (1)” for “or (aa)”,

(g) in subsection (3), by inserting “subsections (3A) and (3B)” for “subsection (3A)”,

(h) by inserting the following subsection after subsection (3A):

“(3B) Subsection (3) shall not apply to—

(a) any period of parental leave proposed to be taken by an employee—

(i) in respect of a child who has attained the age of 11 years before or on the specified day, and

(ii) before the 1st anniversary of that day,

if the operation of section 6(2)(a) would prevent the employee from taking all or any part of that parental leave after that day, or

(b) any period of parental leave proposed to be taken by an employee—

(i) in respect of a child who has attained the age of 15 years before or on...

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