Fair Work Act Changes
Fair Work Act Changes
The Australian Government has introduced additional protections for employer funded paid parental leave as part of the Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya’s Bill).
What's Changing
The Fair Work Act has been changed to protect employees from having their employer funded paid parental leave refused or cancelled in the event of stillbirth or death of a child.
These changes ensure that employees planning to take, or who are receiving, employer funded paid parental leave can’t have this leave refused or cancelled if their child is stillborn or dies, unless they request the leave be cancelled or an exception applies.
This protection applies where a child is stillborn or dies on or after 7 November 2025.
Exceptions
This protection doesn’t apply if any of the following exceptions apply.
Right to cancel employer funded paid parental leave
The protection doesn’t apply if an employer can refuse or cancel employer funded paid parental leave because of stillbirth or the death of a child under the employee’s terms and conditions of employment, such as an employment contract or enterprise agreement.
However, this exception doesn’t apply if the terms and conditions are varied by the employer after 7 November 2025 to allow this.
No entitlement under terms and conditions of employment
The protection doesn’t apply if an employee isn’t entitled to employer funded paid parental leave because of stillbirth or the death of a child under the terms and conditions of their employment.
However, this exception doesn’t apply if their terms and conditions are varied by the employer after 7 November 2025 to allow this.
Other leave entitlements apply
The protection doesn’t apply if an employee is entitled to other forms of leave related to stillbirth or the death of a child under their terms and conditions of employment.
When working out whether this exception applies, the other forms of leave that might be relevant don’t include an employee’s entitlement to compassionate leave or unpaid parental leave under the National Employment Standards (NES), or an entitlement under their terms and conditions of employment with the same or substantially the same effect as those NES entitlements.