What happens if I am made redundant during my pregnancy or parental leave?
Employers may not dismiss an employee for being pregnant or for applying for parental leave. There are special procedures if this happens. For more information see our factsheet: What should I do if I have a problem relating to my parental leave? The law does not prevent employees from being dismissed for legitimate reasons. However, any dismissal must be for a good reason and must be done fairly.
If a redundancy situation arises during pregnancy or parental leave, it can affect an employee’s rights.
If you are made redundant once you have started your parental leave and are receiving parental leave payments, this will not effect your entitlement to payments.
If you are eligible for parental leave, have applied for paid parental leave and have already started your statutory parental leave, you will still receive the full 14 weeks parental leave payment.
This entitlement is the same, even if you were aware of the redundancy at the time of seeking and starting leave, as long as the redundancy was implemented after you started your leave.
If you are made redundant before you start your statutory parental leave, then you may not be eligible to receive parental leave payments, as you may no longer meet the eligibility criteria. For more information or assistance for your situation, you can contact the Department of Labour Workplace Contact Centre on 0800 20 90 20 during business hours.
Any rights to return to work or preferential re-employment end with the redundancy.
If you require assistance in calculating your final date of employment if you have been made redundant, or in dealing with the redundancy situation you can visit www.ers.dol.govt.nz and submit a question via the Ask a Question button, or you can contact the Department of Labour Workplace Contact Centre on 0800 20 90 20 during business hours for more information.
This page was last updated on:
09-Aug-2007
and is current. |
