Updated 28 May 2026
The Parental Leave Act, 1998 (as amended by the Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2006 and the Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2019 entitles each parent up to 26 weeks of unpaid parental leave. The leave must be taken before the child is 12 years of age, or 16 years of age in the case of children with disabilities or a long-term illness. This leave is non-transferable between the parents, except where both parents work for the same employer. However, this depends on the agreement of the employer.
You can take up to 26 weeks of parental leave for each eligible child. This is set out in the Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2019.
If you have more than one child, you can take a maximum of 26 weeks in any 12-month period, unless your employer agrees to more.
You are entitled to 26 weeks parental leave for each eligible child. You can take this leave as either:
- One continuous period of 26 working weeks; or
- Two separate periods each consisting of not less than six weeks and not exceeding 18 weeks in total, provided such leave periods are separated by 10 weeks, or such shorter period as may be agreed between the employer and employee.
You can break your parental leave into working days or hours (or a combination of both) if your employer agrees to this. For example, you can ask to take one day of parental leave a week until the entire 26-week allowance is used up.
The Act also provides for limited paid leave (force majeure leave) to enable employees to deal with family emergencies resulting from injury or illness of a family member, up to a maximum of 3 days in any 12 consecutive months or 5 days in any 36 consecutive months.
In general, an employee must have at least one year's continuous service with the employer before he/she is entitled to take parental leave. However, where the child is nearing 12 (or 16 in the case of a child with a disability), and the parent has more than 3 months but less than one year's service with the employer, he/she will be entitled to pro rata parental leave, i.e., one week's leave for every month of continuous employment completed when the leave begins.
A copy of the primary Act may be viewed or downloaded here – Parental Leave Act, 1998