Q: We have an unusual situation where we have an employee who worked for us part time and part time for another employer.
She went on Parental Leave but had only worked for us for 4 months so wasn’t entitled to Parental Leave, but we agreed to let her take unpaid leave whilst off with her baby.
However, she was entitled to parental leave with her other employer, and also entitled to Paid Parental Leave from IRD.
She now wants to do some ‘keeping in touch’ hours before her return to work (at both employers).
Can she do some of her keeping in touch hours with us, even though she wasn’t entitled to parental leave for her position with us?
If she does some hours and we pay her ordinary hours would this impact her Paid Parental Leave payments?
A: Sorry No as she did not qualify with you. Parental is not based on overall time worked across multiple different employers.
You can decide to provide it as an agreed term not related to the act as you can always do better than legislation.