A woman has succeeded in getting paid parental leave, even though she was not working at the time she applied. Photo / 123RF
A woman has succeeded in getting paid parental leave, even though she was not working at the time she applied. Photo / 123RF
A woman has succeeded in getting paid parental leave, 18 months after her baby was born.
Rebecca Walton was six months pregnant when she first made inquiries about the leave entitlement in September 2020 but was told by Inland Revenue she wasn't eligible because she was not in employment.
Her baby was born in December 2020. Walton then inquired again about entitlement to parental leave after taking up a new job in April 2021, but was told she had missed a deadline related to the age of her child, and that she had not applied before she returned to work.
Walton then applied to the Employment Relations Authority for a review of the decision to decline her application. The Authority sought more information at a case management conference in May this year, and last month ruled she was eligible.
The decision reversed a Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment decision, which the ERA said was based on wrong advice given when Walton first asked the IRD in September 2020 about her entitlement.
MBIE had discretion to approve such payments, despite applications not made in time, and in compliance with the law; the Authority had jurisdiction to review decisions.
The Employment Relations Authority has reversed a decision which denied a woman paid parental leave. Photo / 123RF
At the time Walton raised the query, the officer she spoke with was uncertain and sought advice from a more senior officer, who told her she was not eligible for payments, because she was then not in employment.
Employees who have worked for at least 10 hours a week for six months or more before the birth of a child – or the date they expect to take care of the child - are entitled to 26 weeks of government-funded parental leave as the primary carer, and 26 weeks of unpaid parental leave.
ERA member Sarah Kennedy said in her decision the new information from IRD made it clear that Walton would have met the parental leave threshold test, had she been given the correct advice when she contacted the IRD.
It transpired that Walton had worked the required 26 weeks out of the 52 weeks prior to her child's birth.
MBIE accepted that IRD provided incorrect advice and information to Walton on the first occasion. She relied on that information and decided to return to work in April 2021, believing that she was ineligible for payments.
Kennedy said it was correct that by law a person was not entitled to paid parental leave unless they made an application "before the earliest of the date on which the person returned to work", or the date on which the child reached the age of 12 months old.
In this case, MBIE accepted Walton received incorrect advice from IRD and that in the circumstances it appeared reasonable that she would rely on that advice which led her not to make an application in the first place.
The ERA exercised its discretion to reverse MBIE's decision, and ordered it to now take the necessary steps to ensure Walton received what was owed to her, as soon as possible.
