On 10th October 2024, the Employment Rights Bill 2024 was published and this seeks to change the legal landscape of employment law. The bill aims to tackle poor working conditions and promote economic growth. Numerous areas are up for discussion in the proposed bill. One such proposal relates to family leave, essentially removing the qualifying period for paternity leave, ordinary parental leave (so employees have the right from the first day of employment), and expanding the eligibility of bereavement leave.
It is helpful to take a quick look at how the law presently stands in these areas.
For paternity leave, the qualifying period starts 15 weeks before the due date the baby is expected to be born. The qualifying week starts on a Sunday and ends the following Saturday. The employee is required to tell their employer that they are having a baby, planning to take paternity leave, and the expected week of the child’s birth. This must be conveyed in writing.
Yes, at this stage I bet expectant parents have the calculator out and are doing the maths of taking away 15 weeks from their baby’s due date to check if they are in the qualifying period. Well, under the proposed reforms, this will be abolished as paternity leave entitlement starts from day one of employment.
Ordinary parental leave applies to parents to have the right to have time off work unpaid when they need to look after their children. To be eligible for ordinary parental leave, you must be classed as an employee (I will not go into that for this update) and have worked for your employer for one year or more.
The Employment Rights Bill proposes that ordinary parental leave will also now fall into a “day one right” of employment, so this will become an employee right from the first day of their employment.
Please keep checking back to these updates as the world of employment law develops at its fastest pace for many years.
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