Paid maternity leave, what about the "other mother?"
With the introduction of the 18 weeks paid maternity leave by the government, I began to think about how it would work when my partner and I begin the drive down the baby road. I will be the Tummy mummy, so obviously I would be entitled to the maternity leave pay. I know that in a hetero relationship, the father would get paid Paternity leave, (is it 2 weeks??), so would my partner get paid maternity leave like paternity leave? Or has that not been established yet?
From what I understand the maternity leave paid by the govt is only paid to 1 member of a couple. Your partner would be entitled to family leave from her employer.
I'm not sure exactly how it would work in your situation, but I can't understand any reason your partner wouldn't be entitled to the same as a father would be entitled to. Also, as I understand it, the parents can share the parental leave? So you could use say 9 weeks, then your partner can use 9 weeks?
I don't think the paid paternity leave is part of the govt paid leave scheme. I wish it was. So as others have said, it would be up to your DP's company policy on paternity leave. I would think it would be discrimination if they do have paid paternity leave and she wasn't entitled to it. Most of those policies state something like "If a child under the age of 16 comes into your care full time ..." - to cover entitlements for adoptive parents as well. I daresay most companies still don't do paid paternity leave though. HTH.
I am an employer and i got all this information from the government...
The $5000 lump sum baby bonus has been scrapped. However, if you are unemployed or casually employed you are still entiled to the $5000 in fortnightly installments. If you have a maternity leave payment clause in your employment contract like alot of government jobs already do, then you are not entitled to the new maternity leave. My friend is a detective and she gets 6 weeks at full pay and a further 20 weeks at 1/2 pay.
With the new maternity leave, your employer will get the minimum wage (approx $540pw) put into their account and they administer it to you as they would normally, eg, weekly, fortnightly or monthly. You don't pay tax on it but you also don't get any super during that time either.
Unless it is in your partners contract, like others have said, they are entitled to 2 weeks depending on their award it MAY be paid but it also may not be. it mainly just means that with adequate notice, their employer has to say yes.
The best thing is to get them to save up their holidays and have a whole 4 or 5 weeks off with you.
paid paternity/parental leave for the partner is very much dependent on the employer and the agreement they have with their employees. for instance, my partner was entitled to time off (2 weeks) but it was unpaid. my colleagues at work were entitled to 2 weeks paid leave. varies from employer to employer.
i would assume if you, as the tummy mummy, opt to not take the full 18 weeks of leave, your partner would be entitled to take the balance AFTER you stop receiving it and only if, at that time, she is the primary carer of the child. it wouldn't be paid at the same time. anythin for the first weeks would come down to the employment of your partner (as it does for everyone, regardless of gender)
Paid maternity leave, what about the "other mother?"
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