A prime mover in the campaign to secure paid reproductive leave is now pushing for HECS indexation to pause while primary caregivers are on parental leave, to avoid the cost of time off work disproportionately falling on women.
In response to a grieving mother's petition, Workplace Relations Minister Murray Watt has committed to legislating to prevent employers from cancelling employer-paid parental leave for parents dealing with stillbirth or early infant death.
The FWC has backed a school's refusal to let a coordinator perform her executive role part-time for the first two terms when she returns from parental leave, supporting its offer of a lower-paying teacher position and noting it is not simply "serving customers who are buying widgets".
The FWC has found a worker ineligible for paid parental leave for her second child because she only returned to work for six and a half months before the second period of intended leave, rather than the 12 months that her enterprise agreement required.
The Senate has passed legislation to raise federally-funded paid parental leave to 26 weeks by 2026 after crossbench senators Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock secured $10 million to help small businesses administer the scheme.
A Senate inquiry report tabled this afternoon says the legislation to raise paid parental leave to 26 weeks by 2026 should pass unamended, but the Greens want to see more progress toward a 52-week entitlement, while the Coalition is seeking an opt-out for small businesses from passing on parental leave payments.
The ACTU is urging a Senate inquiry, ahead of it reporting today, to reject an ACCI proposal to exempt small businesses from directly making parental payments, ceding responsibility to Services Australia.
