Parental provisions
Find out about parental entitlements under your collective agreement and the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987 (“PLEPA”). Parental leave is a complex topic. The information below should not be treated as a substitute for individual advice- particularly if your parental leave scenario is somewhat unusual.
To receive detailed advice, it is critical that you contact your PPTA field officer.
Documents
Key entitlements under the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act
I. Introduction
The PLEPA is the most important statute that provides employees with minimum statutory parental leave entitlements, paid parental leave payments and certain employment protections. It is a complex piece of legislation. The simplified summary below only canvases some key features of the Act.
Note: Some of the statutory leave entitlements- particularly those applicable to primary carers, have in practice been superseded by superior, contractual provisions in the Collective Agreements that apply to most PPTA members. These are explained in paragraph II. below. However, the Collective Agreements use the PLEPA as a baseline and many statutory provisions continue to be highly relevant to teachers. Therefore, it is a good idea to have a rudimentary understanding of how the PLEPA operates before looking at the enhancements in the Collective Agreements:
Parental leave
For teachers in state or state integrated schools, the PLEPA treats all employment for different school boards (whether consecutively or concurrently) as one job for parental leave purposes (see PLEPA, section 2AC). This special rule for teachers is a fundamental difference to other occupations and it means that it is easier for teachers to meet the statutory eligibility tests. The two most significant kinds of parental leave that the Act provides are-
a. primary carer leave of up to 26 weeks for the primary carer of a child. The biological mother is presumed to be the primary carer in the first instance, but it can also be another person taking permanent primary responsibility of a child- see section 7 of the PLEPA. Eligibility is contingent on the employee meeting either the 6 months- or 12 month test previously mentioned.
b. unpaid extended leave up to a combined 26 or 52 weeks of leave to the employee and/or the employee’s spouse/partner dependent on whether the 6 months or the 12 months employment test is met (see section 26 of the PLEPA for more detailed information). Any primary carer leave taken reduces the extended leave entitlements under the Act.
In practice, the leave entitlements outlined above have been significantly enhanced for teachers who are primary carers through the applicable collective agreement provisions (see paragraph II. below). However, the statutory provisions remain important i.e. where parental leave is shared.
If you are in a position where you are considering sharing parental leave or where you are succeeding someone else’s parental leave entitlements, we strongly recommend that you seek advice as early as possible from a PPTA field officer about possible implications.
Partner’s leave
The partner of a primary carer is eligible to either one or two weeks’ unpaid partner’s leave under the Act. Again, the duration of the leave depends on whether or not the partner has been employed for an average of 10 hours or more in the previous 6 or 12 months.
Parental leave payments
Paid parental leave payments (PPL payments) obviously remain highly relevant for teachers. The PLEPA provides for 26 weeks of PPL payments to primary carers who have been employed for an average of 10 hours a week in ANY 26 out of the previous 52 weeks. This is different to the tests that determine eligibility to leave under the PLEPA as these look at your employment and hours over the past 6 or 12 months without allowing you to pick the weeks that work to your advantage. It can be possible to receive PPL payments even if you cannot actually take parental leave i.e. because you are no longer employed. You apply for PPL payments through the IRD website. Note that PPL payments are capped, so if you are working full-time, you will definitely not receive your full income. At the time of writing, the maximum amount of ppl payments you can receive is $788.66/week gross, but this amount is adjusted annually.
Pre-term baby payments
Pre-term baby payments can be accessed by primary carers to a baby born alive before the 36th week of gestation. Again, these payments can be accessed through the IRD website.
Keeping-in-Touch hours
While you are on parental leave you are entitled to use "keeping in touch" days to stay connected with what's happening at school. You can work a maximum of 64 hours without affecting your paid parental leave. Again, all hours of work- not just timetabled hours will count.
Usually, you cannot work any keeping-in-touch hours within the first 28 days after the child in respect of whom you are taking parental leave is born. (If you do, you are deemed to have returned to work- which means that you lose eligibility to PPL payments.) Additional keeping-in-touch days are possible for primary carers receiving pre-term baby payments (3 keeping-in-touch hours for every week of the preterm baby payments). The 28-day limit does not apply in those circumstances.
Leave for appointments
The Act provides pregnant employees with 10 days of unpaid leave without pay for reasons connected with her pregnancy, However, in practice employers frequently do not insist on teachers necessarily using this leave and instead permit the use of paid sick leave for pregnancy-related appointments. This is pragmatically sensible for the following reason: While pregnancy is not in itself a sickness, a lot of the times pregnancy goes hand-in-hand with medical conditions that would qualify a worker for sick leave (back pain, nausea, headaches etc.) Using a high trust approach that is accommodating towards the workers is sensible.
Employment Protection
You cannot be dismissed due to pregnancy and generally your position must be kept open for you while you are on leave- although redundancies can still happen. Should this potentially affect you, please contact your field officer as soon as possible.
II. Collective Agreement entitlement
The STCA and ASTCA provide enhanced employment conditions to teachers in the following respects:
a. Pregnant teachers can commence parental leave at any time during pregnancy subject to the teacher giving their employer one months’ notice supported by a medical certificate. A shorter notice period is fine if recommended by a medical practitioner.
b. Teachers who become primary carers can take 12 months of parental leave from the date of birth/adoption/time the teacher becomes the primary carer irrespective of the teacher’s service.
c. Teachers who become primary carers can take up to a further 12 months of parental leave if they have 12 months of service AND they notify their employer in writing of their intention to take this leave within 9 months of commencing their first 12 months of leave. This second period of leave is shortened by any leave taken prior to the date of birth of the child. (The total leave period of parental leave will be 24 continuous months.)
NOTE: If you take parental leave under your Collective Agreement and you find out that you are pregnant again while you are on parental leave, please contact us as soon as possible to seek advice. There is a 6-months standdown for parental leave under the PLEPA and it is critical that you seek advice on your entitlements.
d. A teacher on parental leave can elect to return early from parental leave by giving one month’s notice. (In cases of miscarriages/stillbirths, no notice must be given).
e. Teachers taking primary carer leave or those resigning due to pregnancy are eligible to a lump sum payment equivalent to 6 weeks’ full pay at the rate applicable in the teacher’s last full working week prior to leave or resignation. You apply for this payment via your school. The form that should be used is an EP27 and can be found here. However, it is sensible to wait to do so until your paid parental leave payments have finished (to avoid potentially being liable for secondary tax). You will need the birth certificate of your child to apply.
f. Partners are eligible for 2 days of paid leave to attend the birth of their child. Obviously, the statutory entitlement under the PLEPA to two weeks’ unpaid partners leave is not extinguished by this.
g. Teachers can get service credits (for salary increment purposes) for absences due to childcare.
h. A teacher who has resigned from their position to care for pre-school children and not more than four years have elapsed since they resigned, who applies for a suitable position of equal or lower status, will usually get that job under a preferential appointment provision.
III. Interaction between parental leave and other leave entitlements
Sick leave
If you are unwell during pregnancy, you can take sick leave. You cannot take sick leave when you are already on parental leave.
Annual leave, holiday pay and parental leave
The teacher collective agreements distinguish between annual leave and other holiday pay. You do not accrue holiday pay (term break pay) while you are on parental leave but once you return, you will start accruing holiday pay again.
By law, employees continue to become entitled to annual leave while on parental leave. However, the value of any annual leave the employee becomes entitled to during the parental leave (or in the 12 months after the employee returns to work) is lower, because annual leave only needs to be paid out at the rate of the employee’s average weekly earnings over the last 12 months- counting back from the pay period before the leave is taken. So, the sooner after a return from parental leave the leave is taken, the less financial value the leave typically has. Because annual leave has only recently become more carefully defined in the STCA- with Holidays Act compliance being an area where remediation processes are underway, the new provisions have not been extensively tested yet. However, if you have any questions of how to use annual leave after a return from parental leave, please do not hesitate to reach out to your field officer.
Special leave
As discussed above, the PLEPA tests that determine parental leave or PPL payment eligibility are based on an employee’s work history and the employee’s average weekly hours over the past 6 or 12 months. It is worth noting that hours of work that an employee spends on leave (paid leave or approved LWOP other than parental leave) generally count as employment that factors into the eligibility tests (see PLEPA s72A(2)). This can be an important consideration- particularly for parents who have children in relatively quick succession. If you are in this situation, please contact your Field Officer.
IV. Membership of PPTA
You will still be a member of PPTA while you are on parental leave but you don't need to pay any fees. Please notify PPTA membership@ppta.org.nz of the dates you are on leave.
V. Best Start Payments
You may be eligible for Best Start payments. The Best Start tax credits provide extra support to families for a child's first three years. Best Start is not income-tested in the child’s first year. Best Start begins when paid parental leave finishes.
IV. Relief teaching while you are on parental leave
You are entitled to undertake relief teaching while you are on leave.
PPTA advises you talk to your school if you are considering doing relief teaching while you are on parental leave.
Parental leave protects your job while you are the primary care giver for a child and members must be careful not to jeopardise that entitlement. For example, if you accept a long term relieving role at a different school, you run the risk of your employing school saying that you are no longer on leave and have terminated your employment by accepting employment elsewhere.
Last modified on Thursday, 29 January 2026 11:30