Q: We have a Record of Settlement for Redundancy of an employee who is currently on Parental Leave.
The ROS states that the termination date is 29/10/2024 however the employee started their Parental Leave as at 08/01/2024.
The ROS also states that annual leave on termination is to be paid in accordance with the Holidays Act 2003. We are taking that to mean that termination should be calculated based on the start of their Parental Leave, 08/01/2024.
Is this the correct approach?
A: No, the date of the redundancy is the date to use as the termination date.
The act states that if the employee fails to return, that does not apply in this situation because you are terminating them, not them not coming back.
| 46Failure to return to work
If an employee who takes up parental leave and whose position is kept open by the employer— (a) fails, without good cause, to return to work at the end of that period of parental leave; or (b) informs the employer, before the end of that period of parental leave, that the employee has decided not to return to work at the end of the period of parental leave,— the employee’s employment shall, subject to any agreement between the employer and the employee, be deemed to have been at an end as from the day on which the period of parental leave began. |
So, the termination date from the redundancy is the termination date to use.