Additional paternity rights, but the baby’s arrived early!
If a child is due on, or after, April 3 2011 the father or mother’s partner will be entitled to 26 weeks’ “additional paternity leave”. But babies are rarely on time. So what happens if they arrive before the legal deadline?
More rights on the horizon
We previously explained that where a child is due on, or after, April 3 2011, then the father or mother’s partner will be entitled to take a maximum 26 weeks’ “additional paternity leave” (APL) in the first year of its life (yr.12, iss.9, p.3, see The next step). However, APL can only commence once the child is 20 weeks old.
Where do they come from?
This new statutory right is granted under the Additional Paternity Leave Regulations 2010.It is on top of the existing right to two weeks’ paternity leave within eight weeks of a child’s birth. Other than being re-named “ordinary paternity leave”, this particular right remains unaffected.
Never on time. But babies often fail to turn up on the date predicted by the medics - some make an early appearance, others decide to hang on.
Not a worry yet
Although APL won’t kick in for a while - the earliest it could commence is August 21 2011, i.e. 20 weeks after April 6 2011 - those employees who may take advantage of it will soon (hopefully) know that they are about to become parents. So you are likely to start getting queries when they confirm the “expected week of childbirth” (EWC).
Get the dates right. But the lack of certainty on arrival dates has flagged up a query for our subscribers. Suppose a child is due on, or after, April 3 2011 but actually arrives early - will the eligible employee still have the right to take APL, or do they lose it?
First things first
Before any employee can claim APL, they must have a minimum of 26 weeks’ continuous employment at the 15th week before the EWC. If they don’t, regardless of the day the baby is born, they won’t be entitled to take it.
Early arrival. Assuming this is OK, but the child is born early, i.e. the mother’s due date met the APL criteria, then they will still be entitled to it. These Regulations have been designed around the EWC, rather than the actual birth date because this is so impossible to predict.
Required notice periods
Remember, an employee must give you eight weeks’ written notice of their intention to take APL. It must specify: (1) the date the child was expected to be born; and (2) the actual date of birth. If you have any doubts on entitlements, you can ask them to produce medical evidence on dates. APL is likely to throw up many other queries, and we will be re-visiting the topic again.
Tip 1. An eligible employee will only be entitled to APL if the mother has returned to work - they can’t both be off at the same time.
Tip 2. If an employee indicates their intention to take APL, remind them that they are only entitled to additional statutory paternity pay during what would have been the mother’s statutory maternity pay period. The rest of APL is unpaid and this fact should make them think twice!
For a link to the previous article (PS 12.13.02A) and for a free sample paternity leave policy (PS 12.13.02B), visit http://personnel.indicator.co.uk.
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