Parental Leave
Additional Information – Paid Parental Leave
Recognition of Service
Continuity of employment is not broken by authorised leave, paid or unpaid. However, absences on unpaid leave do not
count as service except as provided under the applicable industrial instrument or directive (e.g. Leave without Salary
Credited as Service Directive). The first three months only of any unpaid leave is to be credited towards the qualifying
service period for paid parental leave purposes as provided in the Paid Parental Leave Directive.
Periods of paid leave during parental leave count as service for all purposes.
Paid Parental Leave on a Half Pay Basis
An employee may apply for paid maternity, adoption, surrogacy or spousal leave on a half pay basis. i.e.
 14 weeks paid maternity, adoption and surrogacy leave may be doubled to 28 weeks, with the employee
receiving salary at the half pay rate for the 28-week period.
 one week paid spousal leave may be extended to two weeks at half pay.
An employee cannot take pre-natal, pre-adoption or pre-surrogacy leave on half pay.
Granting of parental leave on a half pay basis is subject to departmental convenience however requests for leave should
not be unreasonably refused.
The employee may combine a period of full and half pay but this option should be made before the commencement of
parental leave. The employer would not be expected to agree to any change once leave has commenced unless the
employee offers a substantial reason for the change.
The minimum period of parental leave on half pay is two calendar weeks (irrespective of the rate of pay for the period).
An employee may also apply for paid long service leave and recreation leave on a half pay basis in conjunction with
parental leave. Where the employee has previously been on approved leave on half pay, and the employee applies for
sick leave in accordance with the Access to Other Leave attachment, any sick leave in lieu shall also be paid at half pay.
Leave accrual:
Where an employee chooses the half pay option, the accrual of recreation leave, sick leave and long service leave
continues at the equivalent rate as if the employee was on full pay, and at the proportional rate for employees working
part-time.
Leave Debit:
Periods of half pay parental leave will be debited on a full-time equivalent basis e.g. half pay maternity, adoption or
surrogacy leave for a period of 28 weeks will attract a debit of 14 weeks from full pay credits; half pay spousal leave for a
period of 2 weeks will attract a debit of 1 week from full pay credits.
Locality allowance:
Where applicable, employees on paid parental leave continue to receive locality allowance, paid on a proportionate basis
for the period of the leave. Where the half pay option is taken the payment is half the normal entitlement.
Public holidays:
Where a public holiday falls within a period of parental leave at half pay, it will be paid for at the half pay rate. Where a
public holiday falls either at the beginning or at the end of a period of half paid leave, and is immediately
preceded/followed by a period of unpaid leave, the public holiday shall be paid at the half pay rate.
See Paid Parental Leave Directive for further details.
Uncontrolled copy. Refer to the Department of Education, Training and Employment
Policy and Procedure Register at http://ppr.det.qld.gov.au to ensure you have the most current version of this document.
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Pro Rata Entitlement for Part-Time Employees
Paid maternity, adoption or surrogacy leave for part-time or long-term casual employees is paid pro rata based on the
average hours worked over the previous 12 months. The entitlement to 14 weeks paid maternity, adoption or surrogacy
leave is to be calculated as follows:
Proportionate entitlement to 14 weeks = Number of hours x working days of entitlements
Where number of hours = total ordinary hours worked over the last 12 months x 70 days
total ordinary hours of a full-time employee over
the previous 12 months
For example, an employee who works a 0.5 fraction during the 12 months lead up to paid parental leave, is entitled to
paid parental leave at the rate of 0.5.
Notwithstanding the above formula, any approved absence from work cannot be taken into consideration to disadvantage
an employee when determining their paid parental leave payment.
After a period of maternity leave, an employee who returns to work to her substantive part-time position on a permanent
basis who then becomes pregnant will be eligible to receive a second period of paid maternity leave based on the
average hours worked over the previous 12 months of service.
For example, a substantively full-time (1.0FTE) employee who returns to work part-time (eg. 0.8FTE) following maternity
leave, falls pregnant and commences maternity leave 6 months later, will be entitled to paid maternity leave calculated at
a rate of 0.9. This is a pro rata rate of 6 months in the part-time position, and 6 months from the substantive position.
The entitlement to paid parental leave is averaged at the rate of the two periods:
Hours worked over previous
12 months
6 months - approved leave
(1.0FTE)
Entitlement
6 months - part-time work
(0.8FTE)
Paid parental leave at
0.9FTE
Please Note unpaid leave is calculated as 0 FTE
See Paid Parental Leave Directive for further details.
Higher Duties Allowance While on Paid Parental Leave
A public service officer on parental leave, who, before taking the leave had been directed to assume higher duties and
responsibilities for the immediately preceding 12 months, is to continue to receive the higher duties amount while on paid
parental leave. Where an employee has been acting in higher duties for less than 12 months, payment for leave is at the
employee’s substantive rate of pay. Such employees taking half pay leave options are not to be disadvantaged by this
provision.
Uncontrolled copy. Refer to the Department of Education, Training and Employment
Policy and Procedure Register at http://ppr.det.qld.gov.au to ensure you have the most current version of this document.
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