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Submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Workplace Relations, Skills and Training: Inquiry into the Operation and Adequacy of the National Employment Standards (NES)

Activity: External Academic Engagement › Submissions to industry or govt committees, commissions and inquiries

Description

In this submission, I argue that a 12-month continuous service requirement with an employer to access unpaid parental leave is out of step with the objective of promoting gender equality under s 3 of the FW Act as well as contemporary patterns of work. I also explain how the interaction between the provisions outlined above produces a significant gap in the NES safety net. In essence, employees may qualify for parental leave payments, either through the government’s payments or employer arrangements, yet have no statutory right to return to their pre-leave position. This is explained further below. This is an inconsistency that could and should be resolved by removing the 12-month continuous service requirement from unpaid parental leave under the NES.
Period22 Feb 2026
Work forParliament of Australia, Australia, Australian Capital Territory
Degree of RecognitionNational

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