Parents of children born or adopted on or after 1 Jul 2020 will have more flexibility in how they take their paid parental leave entitlement. The changes feature in the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Flexibility Measures) Act 2020 that received Royal Assent on 16 Jun 2020. 

Currently, parents can take up to 18 weeks (90 payable days) of continuous parental leave. Under the amended act, parents can still take 90 paid days of parental leave, but will have more flexibility when taking the time off, as follows: 

• In the first 12 months after a birth or adoption, parents must take a continuous period of 12 weeks (60 days) of paid parental leave.
• Within 24 months of a birth or adoption, parents have 30 flexible paid parental leave days that can be taken immediately after the 60 days of paid parental leave, or in later shorter blocks. 

Related resources

Non-Mercer resources

• Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Flexibility Measures) Bill 2020 (Parliament of Australia)
• Explanation of the provisions (Australian government, 16 Jun 2020)

Mercer Law & Policy resource

• Australia proposes more flexible paid parental leave (24 Feb 2020)