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?

Hope I dont sound too silly.
Cheers
J+J

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 think the paternity leave pay is not mandatory and based on your company. Don't see why your partner would not get it if she is entitled to it.

I thnk she would get it too- not fair if she doesnt!

do yous till get the t $5k bonus if you the maternity pay though?

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.

I hope this helps....

jessenna,

Yes as a gay couple we are entitled to all the rights of a hetro couple...
ABOUT TIME!!!!

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)

My colleagues are entitled to 1 week of parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child which they are a parent of if they are NOT the primary care-giver of the child. In the case of a same sex couple the parent who is not the primary care-giver is entitled to this week of paid leave. Parental leave comes out of holiday entitlements, if you don't have any holiday leave owing then the parental leave is unpaid. The primary care-giver is entitled to 10 weeks paid leave at full pay (this 'maternity' leave is paid by my employer and is separate to all other entitlements). Only ONE parent can claim to be the primary caregiver and my employer requires a statutory declaration to state that this is the parent claiming paid maternity leave. I work with many same-sex couples, some of whom have become parents. The system of leave entitlements seems to work quite well.

My DH has negotiated the same arrangement from his employer and after the birth of our next child he will take one week of leave, paid from his holiday leave entitlement. He works for a small company, I work for a large organisation. At this point, I believe that 'paternity' leave ('parental' leave at my work!) is very much determined by each individual employer.

All very confusing... But I heard that you could take out 'carer's leave' (I think). I heard someone at work talk about it... Might that be an option?

Raupe, 'carer's leave' at my work (other's might be different?) is used when the employee is required to care for a member of their immediate family who is ill ie. children. The leave is paid/deducted from sick leave entitlements and is separate from parental leave.

a lot of people will have accrued six leave and will take carers (sick) leave if their partner has to have a c/s to extend their leave entitlements while still receiving payments.

there are soooo many terms out there. for permanent employees, there is a government legislation (i believe) that allows for either parent to have up to 52 weeks of parental leave and still have their job available at the end of it. it is generally unpaid, and it is set up so that only one person can claim this status at a time. in the case where the birth mother decides to return to work early (six months post partum for instance) the other parent has the optino of taking unpaid leave for the balance of the first 12 months of the baby's life, and the employer is obligated to keep their position open for them after that period of time. there is no guarantee for employment for casual employees though

the whole system is complicated - my suggestion to anyone who's partner is ttc or pregnant is to find out in advance what your entitlements through your employer are - and if it turns out that you're not entitled to any time off under your agreement, but you can acrue leave, try and save up your rec leave to take!