Paid maternity leave
Parental leave in Australia
On 17 July, 2010, Parliament passed the legislation for Paid Parental Leave in Australia.
The scheme provides up to 18 weeks' Government-funded parental leave pay at the National Minimum Wage level ($570 per week as at 17 July 2010) for eligible parents of children born or adopted on or after 1 January 2011.
Details about the proposed scheme are available on the Family Assistance Office web site. Parents will lodge their claims for this payment through Family Assistance Offices, and in some cases the Family Assistance Office will make the payments to the parents.
The scheme will be means tested. Eligibility for the payments will be tested by the Families Assistance Office, not by your employer. Casual and part-time workers, contractors and the self-employed will be eligible for financial support.
Paid Parental Leave Information for Parents provides details of the proposed approach to paid maternity leave in Australia.
The government's Paid Parental Leave scheme is being phased in over a six month period.
After 1 July 2011, all employers will be required to participate in the government's scheme. So if your baby is born after that date, you will receive parental leave payments if you assessed as eligible.
Employers may choose to provide the government's Parental Payments to long-term employees (people employed for 12 months or more prior to the baby's date of birth or date of adoption) from 1 January 2011.
This means that for the rest of 2010, you are eligible for paid parental leave only if it is offered by your employer.
It also means that, if you are lucky, your employer may choose to make the government's scheme available to you if you have your baby between 1 January and 30 June 2011.
Paid Parental Leave Information for Employers provides details of the government's new scheme for employers.
Australian companies with paid maternity/parental leave
Check out the following list. If your company is on it, then you are in luck: your employer already offers you paid maternity or paid parental leave.
If your organisation is not listed, then contact your HR officer, or personnel, and ask them what entitlements to paid maternity leave are offered by your company.
If they tell you that your company does offer paid maternity leave and it is not on the 2020women list, contact us and we will add their name.
The list is incomplete, if you know of other companies that should be on the list, let us know.
Acumen Alliance
Advantra
American Express
AMP
Australian Catholic University
Blues Point Engineering
BHP
Bond University
Brisbane City Council
British American Tobacco Australia
City of Onkaparinga
Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations
Coliban Region Water Authority
Community Aid Abroad
Coopers & Lybrand
Cummins Engine Company Ltd
Edith Cowan University
Ford Australia
General Motors Holden
George Patterson Bates
Hazelwood Power Corporation
IBM
Ikea
Integra Information Systems
Lend Lease
McDonalds
Mission Australia
Mission Energy
Mitsubishi
National Australia Bank
News Corp
Optus
Pacific Power
Phillip Morris Ltd
Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association of Australia
Public sector organisations provide paid maternity leave, with some variations between entitlements
Qantas
Queensland Rail
Stafford Manufacturing
Sydney Water
Sydney Electricity
Toyota
UBS AG
University of NSW
University of South Australia
University of Western Australia
VicSuper
Westpac
Woolworths
Universities - in addition to the universities mentioned above, most if not all national universities have paid maternity leave. RMIT has 6 months paid maternity leave plus 3 months return to work bonus. La Trobe Uni has 9 months maternity leave. Swinburne, Melbourne, Monash, Victoria Univeristy all have paid maternity leave also
How does Australia compare to other countries?
Austria: 16 weeks full pay
Belgium: 15 weeks 82% of pay for 30 days, then 75%
Canada: 50 weeks compulsory 55% for 15 weeks
France: 16-26 weeks, full pay
Germany: 14 weeks full pay
Italy: 47 weeks compulsory 80%
Ireland: 14 weeks 70%
Israel: 12 weeks 75%
Japan: 14 weeks compulsory 60%
Republic of the Congo: 15 weeks
Russia: 140 days full pay
Singapore: 8 weeks full pay
Sweden: 18 months 75% for 12 months then flat rate
Switzerland: 8 weeks full pay
Tanzania: 14 weeks
UK: 39 weeks compulsory full pay
The OECD Family database states that on average about 18 weeks paid maternity leave is provided across the OECD countries and two weeks paternity leave. Their chart (below) shows the paid and unpaid leave entitlements in OECD countries. In 2011, Australia will sit somewhere in the middle of other OECD countries.
United Kingdom
Women employees in the UK have been able to access Government funded paid maternity leave for over 30 years. Now called Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) the scheme provides 39 weeks of paid maternity leave. For the first six weeks payments are 90% of your average gross weekly earnings with no upper limit, and for the remaining 33 weeks payments are at the lower of either the standard rate of £123.06 or 90% of your average gross weekly earnings. Women who are not eligible for SMP receive a Maternity Allowance of £123.06 or 90% of your average gross weekly earnings for a maximum of 39 weeks.