Know Your Rights: Parental leave and your entitlements

What is parental leave?

Parental leave lets parents take unpaid leave from work to look after their children. You can take up to 26 weeks’ leave for each eligible child before their 12th birthday. If you have more than one child, parental leave is limited to 26 weeks in a 12-month period. This can be more if your employer agrees.

Generally, you must have been working for your employer for a year before you are entitled to parental leave.

Who is entitled to parental leave?

To qualify you must:

Be a relevant parent. This means you are either a parent, an adoptive parent, or a person acting in ‘loco parentis’ (acting as a parent to the child).

Take the leave before your child’s 12th birthday (or 16th birthday if your child has a disability or long-term illness).

Give at least 6 weeks’ notice to your employer.

Take the leave in either one continuous period, or in blocks of at least 6 weeks (unless your employer agrees to let you take the leave differently).

Can my employer refuse or postpone my parental leave?

Your employer can only refuse parental leave if you are not entitled to take it.

In some cases, employers can postpone the leave. Normally parental leave can only be postponed once.

Reasons for postponement can include:

Lack of cover while you are on leave

The fact that other employees are already on parental leave

Read more about parental leave on, https://bit.ly/3kiLTFv or call us on 0818 07 4000 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 8pm).

Know Your Rights has been compiled by Thurles Citizens Information Centre, 2nd Floor, Mall House, Slievenamon Road, Thurles, which provides a free and confidential service to the public. Open: Monday to Friday 10am to 1pm and 2pm to 4pm. Tel: 0818 07 6510

Information is also available online at www.citizensinformation.ie and from the Citizens Information Phone Service, 0818 07 4000 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 8pm).