Parental leave — a pending new entitlement as a minimum term of employment
Parental and adoption leave need to be better clarified in the Labour Laws Amendment Bill, writes Bradley Workman-Davies, but they’re still good news for new parents
Currently, South African employment laws provide minimum entitlements to specified leave types for all employees, such as annual leave, sick leave, family responsibility leave, and unpaid maternity leave of four months for female employees. These entitlements originate in the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, 75 of 1997. A proposed amendment to the Act has recently been passed by Parliament in the form of the Labour Laws Amendment Bill which would introduce, for the first time, the new leave-type of parental leave. Although passed by Parliament, this Bill still needs to go through the National Council of Provinces and then be signed by the President. The Bill specifies that an employee who is a parent will be entitled to 10 days of parental leave, which may be granted from the day of a child’s birth or the day of the granting of a child’s adoption order. The Bill does not specify paternity leave but rather makes provision for parental leave, which could apply to both male and fema...
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