Parental leave in Northern Ireland (which is different to shared parental leave) allows each eligible parent to take up to 18 weeks of unpaid leave per child, which can be taken any time up until the child’s 18th birthday. For reference, shared parental leave allows eligible parents to share the remaining weeks of maternity/paternity or adoption leave and pay between them in flexible blocks. On the other hand, parental leave is an individual right and cannot be transferred between parents. Eligibility requires one year of continuous service and legal parental responsibility. Parental leave can be used to care for the child, to support their welfare, or to help with education, childcare, or hospital visits. Employers may require evidence of eligibility. The leave entitlement is unpaid; however, employers can provide more generous entitlements at their discretion.

Statutory entitlement

In Northern Ireland, the law does not provide a right to carry over unused statutory parental leave in the same manner as statutory paid annual leave if the employee was on maternity leave (or other statutory leave). The Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999 (as amended) (“NI-MAPLE”) contains a rule that an employee cannot take more than four weeks’ parental leave for the same child in any 12-month period. A “year” for this purpose is normally the 12-month period beginning on the date the employee first becomes entitled to parental leave for that child. There is no exception allowing an employee to roll unused leave into the next 12-month period. However, employees are granted a greater degree of flexibility as there are no other explicit provisions specifying when the leave must be taken up until the child reaches 18.

Contractual entitlement

An employer can provide parental leave entitlement that exceeds the statutory minimum, and this can address whether parental leave can be carried over.
Employers and employees (via contract, collective agreement, or workforce agreement) may agree more favourable terms than the statutory minimum. Such agreements may provide for:
•    entitlement for employees with less than one year’s service;
•    the ability to take more than four weeks per year;
•    leave in blocks of less than one week (for non-disabled children); and/or
•    flexible-working-style arrangements for taking parental leave.

Overall an employee is entitled to rely on whichever right, statutory or contractual, is more generous.

This article was provided by Madison Bowyer, an Associate in the Employment Law Group at Arthur Cox NI. 

T:+44 28 9026 5886 
E: Madison.bowyer@arthurcox.com 
https://www.arthurcox.com/