Parental Leave (Amendment) Bill

A BILL TO

Extend parental leave to 52 weeks

Be It Enacted by being passed in the Northern Irish Assembly and assented to by His Majesty as follows—

Section 1: Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

(1) Amend Regulation 7 and amend to—

7.—(1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (5), an employee’s ordinary maternity leave period continues for the period of 52 weeks from its commencement, or until the end of the compulsory maternity leave period provided for in regulation 8 if later.

(2) Amend Regulation 14 and amend to—

14.—(1) An employee is entitled to 52 weeks' leave in respect of any individual child.

(3) Amend Regulation 22 and amend to—

22. Where—

(a)under Chapter IV of Part I of the 1996 Order, the amount of a week’s pay of an employee falls to be calculated by reference to the average rate of remuneration, or the average amount of remuneration, payable to the employee in respect of a period of fifty two weeks ending on a particular date (referred to as “the calculation date”);

Section 2: Repeals

(1) The Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2022 is repealed in its entirety.

Section 3: Commencement and Title

(1) This act shall extend across Northern Ireland.

(2) This act will come into force 6 months after Royal Assent.

(3) This act may be cited as the Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2023.

This bill was written by Her Grace Duchess of Omagh, Lady_Aya,LP LD DCT GCVO PC MLA on behalf of the Northern Irish Executive.

References:

Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2022

Opening Speech:

Ceann Comhairle,

This bill is a very simple bill and part of a promised policy by this Executive. This bill seeks to amend the 1999 Regulations to extend parental leave to 52 weeks. While there are those who may notice that we passed a similar act last term regarding extending it to 32 weeks, I do not believe that we should not further extend it to the full 52 weeks as set out by this Executive. The first weeks of a child's life are very important for them and it is even more important for parents of the child to be there to care for them during this very critical time in their life. I hope my fellow members will support this bill and I hope for its passage. Thank you.

A01

Replace "6 months after" with "upon"

A01 was submitted by /u/Muffin5136

A02

In Section 3(2), append after:

(a) The provisions of this Act shall apply to any parents who have had a child born after December 31st 2009

A03

In Section 1, insert after (3):

(4) Amend regulation 15 to replace every mention of 'fifth' with 'thirteenth'

EN: Raises the maximum age it may be taken of the child it may be used with from five to thirteen, as a child may be somewhat more 'vulnerable' before this age or in need of parental assistance more often

A02-A03 were submitted by /u/Frost_Walker2017

This division shall end on the 28th of February at 10PM