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Thursday, February 05, 2009
Know Your Rights
Q: I would like to take a couple of months off work to care for my children but my employer does not want to give me unpaid leave. Do I have any legal rights in this regard?
A: Parental leave law entitles you to take leave to care for your child. It applies if the child is up to eight years of age or up to 16 years for a child with a disability.
If you have more than one child qualifying, you can take leave for a total of 14 weeks for each child, though you can only take one 14-week entitlement in any 12month period. You may take the leave as one continuous period or as two separate periods of at least six weeks each, but your employer may agree to more flexible arrangements or to longer leave.
The leave is unpaid and does not entitle you to a social welfare payment. But your employment rights are not affected if you take the leave so, for example, you continue to accumulate your entitlement to annual leave and public holidays.
To qualify for parental leave you must have been working for your employer for at least a year. However, if your child is nearing the age limit and you have been working for less than a year but more than three months, you have a pro-rata entitlement of one week’s leave per month of employment.
If you intend to take parental leave you must give your employer six weeks’ notice in writing, stating when you intend to start the leave and for how long. Then, at least four weeks before the leave starts, you will need to sign a document with your employer confirming the details.
Before this confirmation stage, your employer may postpone the leave for up to six months if your absence will have a significant negative impact. You are entitled to four weeks’ notice of the postponement.
If you feel you are being denied your entitlements to parental leave you can refer the dispute to a Rights Commissioner at the Labour Relations Commission, Tom Johnson House, Haddington Road, Dublin 4, Tel: (01) 613 6700.
For more information on parental leave you can contact the Equality Authority, 2 Clonmel Street, Dublin 2, Tel: (01) 417 3333, Lo-call: 1890 245 545.
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