Paternity leave entitlement.

annie1975_2

How long do you have to be with an employer to get paternity leave?..I was asked by someone who has been with the company over a year,but at the time the baby was born they had been with the company 10 months.Would they be entitled to paternity leave or not.

Thanks..

chrisbur

An employee has to have been employed for 26 weeks by the end of the qualifying week which is 15 weeks before the expected week of childbirth.
There is a chart for dates for babies born from 1/4/12 towards the end of this....
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/e19.pdf

annie1975_2

chrisbur wrote: »

An employee has to have been employed for 26 weeks by the end of the qualifying week which is 15 weeks before the expected week of childbirth.
There is a chart for dates for babies born from 1/4/12 towards the end of this....
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/e19.pdf

Thank you.

heretolearn_2

It's too late for paternity leave, even if he's been there long enough to qualify. You have to request this 15 weeks before the baby is due - that's the required amount of notice. He shouldn't have waited until after the baby was here, the employer can no longer give statutory paternity leave and pay. the only exclusions for this are if he can give employer a 'valid reason' for not giving sufficient notice, for example if the baby is born prematurely.If there is no valid reason (forgetting or just not checking the rules do not count as valid reasons in the legislation) then the right to statutory leave and pay is lost.

However, he could apply for Parental Leave. He can apply for up to 13 weeks total in the 18 years of childhood (different rules if child is disabled). This is, however, unpaid leave. See the link below.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Moneyandworkentitlements/WorkAndFamilies/Parentalleaveandflexibleworking/DG_10029416

hawk30

If he wants to take ordinary paternity leave, then it's true that he's left it too late. If, however, he wants to take additional paternity leave (whereby the mum goes back to work and the dad becomes the primary carer for a while) he only needs to give notice 8 weeks before he intends to take the leave. This type of leave can be taken between 20 weeks and one year after the child is born.

annie1975_2

Thanks for the replies everyone...

heretolearn_2

Ah yes, additional paternity leave, there is that. But only if the child's mother has returned to work and she received certain maternity benefits such as Statutory Maternity Leave.