Australian Maternity Leave Rights

[Fuzzywuzzy]

My company pays 12 weeks maternity leave (this could go to fathers if they are the primary carer) and 1 week paternity leave after 12 months of employment. They have the same rules for adoption (12 weeks paid leave) Interestingly, we have to sign a stat dec stating that we are the primary carer and that our partner is not going to be receiving paid maternity leave from their employer

[tenar]

If you have been working there for 2 or more years, my company pays:

14 weeks of fully paid maternity leave
38 weeks of leave at 60% pay

So you get a year off, all told. If you take the 38 weeks at 60% pay you have to sign a "return to work" deed and you will have to pay the money back if you don't return to work for an equivalent time (could be part-time work, though) after you have finished the leave. It's a policy that is clearly aimed at getting mums back into the workforce, and I think it's great by Aussie standards.

If you've been working less than 2 years, you get some entitlements pro rata, not sure of the details.

I thought that in Australia we were all entitled to a year of unpaid maternity leave and then to go back into the same job after that. Maybe I'm confused about this? It's better than nothing.

The baby bonus would work out to $100/week or so, wouldn't it? Not a lot of money. Again, better than nothing, and at least it isn't taxed. I guess that the other family payments and tax benefits would add to that, but this varies a lot from family to family.

MummyPig it is common for people on temporary visas (and even some of the ongoing ones) to be denied access to social benefit schemes of whatever kind. It was the same for me when I was living in the UK: I would not qualify for any benefits if I had applied for some, even though I was allowed to live and work in the country. At present, my husband, who has an ongoing visa, is not allowed to access any centrelink payments in Australia, though hopefully when he gets permanent residency this will change.

[Toomanytoomany]

The baby bonus would work out to $100/week or so, wouldn't it? Not a lot of money. Again, better than nothing, and at least it isn't taxed. I guess that the other family payments and tax benefits would add to that, but this varies a lot from family to family.

We'll be getting monthly instalments of the baby bonus, and while it is really the difference between me having to work or not, no, it's nowhere near the equivalent of paid maternity leave. I will get extra family payment, and i'm glad that the baby will be born in April so there'll only be a couple of months until we can put in a new estimate of earnings!

In the meantime, I get six weeks' paid maternity leave from work, the statutory twelve months unpaid entitlement, and I'll have to cash in all my annual leave due as well to make ends meet.

[briggsy's girl]

it's actually fortnightly installments from Jan 1 - and is an amount of approx 385 a fortnight for 13 fortnights

[Counting Days]

australia is so backwards guess that is what happens when we have played buddy buddy with americia for so long

we have a queen in the UK and are close to NZ we should be more in line with them

[littleberlin]

It is a bit depressing, isn't it? I read somewhere this week that some Scandinavian countries introduced paid maternity leave schemes in the nineteenth century?! It would be fantastic if we could look to Scandinavian models for inspiration (rather than the terrible US model), particularly in relation to the introduction of things like parental leave. How wonderful would it be if our society actively encouraged and supported, not just parenting, but parenting as shared responsibility between partners, rather than assuming that having one primary carer was the way to raise children? And in the case of single-parent families, being able to recognise the circumstances which often make such an arrangement challenging, and offering the appropriate support. Actually, as someone raised by her mother alone, I'm still completely in awe of how she was able do this with such meagre assistance.

I feel so lucky to be able to access thirteen weeks of paid maternity leave (tertiary education sector), but the fact that so many women aren't entitled to this makes me quite angry. Now it seems given the worldwide financial crisis, the current government's plan to make paid maternity leave a priority will be pushed aside for who knows how long. I was talking to a friend about this the other day, and they were wondering how different Australian society would be if the majority of politicians and policy-makers were women and not men. It's an interesting thought...

[Counting Days]

interesting would be putting it midly