Ireland: Increase in parental leave entitlements from 1 September 2019

This means that from 1 September 2019 onwards, parents will be able to benefit from an additional 4 weeks’ unpaid parental leave where their children are aged 12 or under (or up to age 16 in the case of children with a disability or long term illness). This change will bring the statutory parental leave entitlement from 18 to 22 weeks with a further increase of 4 weeks to take effect in 2020. As a result, eligible parents will be entitled to 26 weeks unpaid parental leave from 1 September 2020 onwards.

Parents who have already taken some, or all, of their existing 18 week parental leave entitlement, and whose children are still within the relevant age thresholds when the change comes into force, will also be able to benefit from the additional leave as detailed in our previous post available here.

At this stage, the key action point for employers is to review and update existing policies and procedures to make sure the business is ready when the parental leave entitlements are extended on 1 September 2019.

If you need help with any employment law matters in Ireland please contact the Lewis Silkin Ireland team.