Home or away
2012 saw a great many changes in employment law and there are even more planned for the future.
Recently we explained planned changes, which if implemented will come into effect in 2015, allowing both parents to share the one year parental leave period, dividing time between them or even to take time off together. This could have a major impact on the availability of your staff.
However, yet another change planned for the coming year 2013 may have an equally dramatic effect on your staff’s ability to take time out
In order to comply with EU member states’ implementation obligations under the Parental Leave Directive, the government has now confirmed that it will increase unpaid parental leave entitlement from 13 to 18 weeks from March 2013.
However, the government has also mooted the possibility that effective from 2015 it may increase the age limit on parental leave from the current 5 years to 18 years, providing each parent the right to up to 18 weeks’ unpaid parental leave for each child under 18.
It will be interesting to see the criteria which staff have to meet in terms of reasons to qualify for such leave.