Ending employment during parental leave
Find out about obligations for resignation, dismissal and redundancy while on unpaid parental leave, and entitlements when a business changes owners.
On this page:
- Resigning from a job while on parental leave
- Dismissed by an employer while on parental leave
- Parental leave entitlements when a business changes owners
- Tools and resources
- Related information
Resigning from a job while on parental leave
An employee can resign from their job while they're on parental leave. They:
- have to give the correct notice period to their employer
- can use their parental leave as the notice period.
Notice periods can be different in each award and registered agreement. Check the Resignation and notice page for more about notice periods under awards.
Dismissed by an employer while on parental leave
If an employer dismisses an employee while they're on parental leave, they need to give the employee notice. Employers can:
- give the employee their notice and the notice period runs while the employee is on parental leave. This means the employee’s employment ends when the notice period ends.
- make a payment in lieu of the notice period. For example, an employee who is entitled to 3 weeks' notice will get 3 weeks' pay instead.
More information:
- Dismissal and notice - for information about minimum notice periods
- Notice and final pay - for information about how to give an employee notice
- Notice of termination and leave - for more information about how notice periods interact with leave.
Reasons for dismissing an employee on parental leave
An employer can't dismiss an employee because:
- of family or caring responsibilities
- they are pregnant
- they are on maternity or parental leave, or
- they are temporarily absent from work due to illness or injury.
This may be seen as discrimination, and it's unlawful to dismiss an employee for any of these reasons.
Redundancy while on parental leave
If an employee's job is made redundant while on parental leave, the employer has to:
- give them the correct notice
- pay out any entitlements, including redundancy pay.
All awards and registered agreements have a consultation process for when there are major changes to the workplace, such as redundancies.
Employers have to talk to an employee on unpaid parental leave if they decide to make a significant change in the workplace that will affect the employee's job. This has to occur as the decision is made, not when the employee comes back to work from parental leave.
Parental leave entitlements when a business changes owners
When a business changes owners, also known as a 'transfer of business', there might be a transfer of employment. This means that an employee keeps working at the business, but their employment transfers to the new business owner.
In this circumstance, employees entitled to unpaid parental leave with the old employer are still entitled to it with the new employer. This is because the new employer is required to recognise the employee's service with the old employer for parental leave entitlements.
This entitlement is recognised when the employee:
- provides the correct notice and evidence of intent to take parental leave under the old employer, or
- has already started unpaid parental leave with the old employer.