Parental Leave in Australia: NES Unpaid Leave and Paid Parental Leave Explained

Australian employees have two separate parental leave rights: up to 12 months of unpaid job-protected leave under the Fair Work Act, and a separate Commonwealth Paid Parental Leave payment from Services Australia that reached its final legislated tier of 130 days (26 weeks) on 1 July 2026.

This guide covers the two layers of parental leave available to most Australian employees: the unpaid, job-protected leave set out in Part 2-2, Division 5 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (sections 67 to 85), and the Commonwealth Paid Parental Leave (PPL) payment administered separately by Services Australia. They are governed by different legislation, run on different eligibility tests, and are commonly confused with one another, so this article treats them as two related but distinct entitlements throughout.

Who Can Take Unpaid Parental Leave

Section 70 of the Fair Work Act entitles an employee to 12 months of unpaid parental leave where the leave is associated with the birth of a child of the employee or their spouse or de facto partner, or the placement of a child with the employee for adoption, and the employee has or will have responsibility for the child's care. Adoption-related leave under section 68 applies where the child is under 16 at the time of placement.

To be entitled to Division 5 leave, section 67(1) generally requires an employee (other than a casual) to have completed, or to be about to complete, at least 12 months of continuous service with the employer immediately before the expected date of birth or placement. Section 67(2) applies an equivalent regular-and-systematic test to an eligible casual employee who has been employed on a regular basis for a sequence of periods over at least 12 months. Because casual employment is treated differently across the National Employment Standards generally, a casual employee who is unsure whether they qualify should check the specific test in section 67(2) or see recordinglaw.com's casual employee rights guide for how casual service is treated more broadly.

How Much Unpaid Leave You Can Take, and How

The core entitlement is 12 months, taken as a single continuous period under section 71(2), starting and ending within the 24-month period beginning on the date of birth or the day of placement (section 71(3) to (5)). A pregnant employee can be required to start leave up to six weeks before the expected birth date in some circumstances (section 73).

Section 72A adds flexibility: an employee can take up to 100 days of unpaid parental leave as flexible days, either in a single block or as separate days, within the same 24-month window. These flexible days are available in full to part-time and casual employees, and a pregnant employee can take flexible days from six weeks before the expected birth date. Importantly, the 100 flexible days come out of the 12-month entitlement in section 70, not on top of it.

Extending Your Leave: Two Different Mechanisms

The Fair Work Act sets out two different ways to extend parental leave, and they are easy to conflate because both involve giving the employer written notice. Section 75 is a lighter-weight mechanism: if an employee originally notified a leave period shorter than their full 12-month available parental leave period, they can extend it by giving at least four weeks' written notice, but only one such extension is available this way, and it cannot go beyond the original 12-month available period.

Section 76 is the substantive extension: an employee who has taken their full 12-month available parental leave period can request a further period of up to 12 months immediately following it, in writing, at least four weeks before the original period ends. Under section 76A, the employer must respond in writing within 21 days, either agreeing, proposing a different period, or refusing. A refusal is not free: the employer can only refuse if it discussed the request and genuinely tried to reach agreement, no agreement was reached, it had regard to the consequences of refusal for the employee, and the refusal is on reasonable business grounds. Section 76A(5) lists non-exhaustive examples of reasonable business grounds, including that the extension would be too costly, that there is no capacity to change other employees' working arrangements or recruit to cover it, or that it would likely cause a significant loss of efficiency, productivity, or negative impact on customer service. A written refusal must give the actual reasons, explain how those grounds apply, state any shorter extension the employer would agree to, and set out the employee's dispute rights. Even combining both blocks, section 76(7) caps total unpaid parental leave at 24 months from the date of birth or placement.

An unresolved dispute over an extension request can go to the Fair Work Commission under sections 76B and 76C, which must generally try conciliation or mediation before it can arbitrate, including making an order that a refusal be treated as though it had never validly been given.

Employees who return to work after parental leave, or whose leave is refused or cut short unlawfully, may also have general protections available under the Fair Work Act; see recordinglaw.com's general protections and adverse action guide for how that separate remedy works alongside the leave entitlement itself.

Commonwealth Paid Parental Leave: Weeks and Rate

Paid Parental Leave (PPL) is a separate Commonwealth payment administered by Services Australia, not a Fair Work Act entitlement, and it is based on the national minimum wage rather than an employee's own salary. The scheme has been on a legislated step-up schedule by the child's date of birth or adoption: 100 days (20 weeks) from 1 July 2023, 110 days (22 weeks) from 1 July 2024, 120 days (24 weeks) from 1 July 2025, and 130 days (26 weeks) from 1 July 2026. Per Services Australia's published schedule, that final 130-day, 26-week tier took effect for children born or adopted from 1 July 2026.

For the 2026-27 financial year, per Services Australia's live page (checked 18 August 2026), the rate is $200.94 a day before tax, which works out to about $1,004.70 for a five-day week (5 x $200.94, confirm the exact weekly figure on Services Australia's page), up from $189.62 a day in 2025-26 and $183.16 a day in 2024-25. The rate usually changes on 1 July each year, and a family's PPL days can straddle 1 July and be paid at two different rates depending on which financial year each day falls in. Because Services Australia updates this figure annually, readers should confirm the current daily rate directly on Services Australia's How much Parental Leave Pay you can get page rather than relying on a figure printed in an article.

Single parents can generally access all of their PPL days. Partnered parents share the entitlement, with a portion of days reserved specifically for the partner: 10 reserved days for children born or adopted from 1 July 2023 or 2024, rising to 15 days from 1 July 2025, and 20 days from 1 July 2026. There is also a separate cap on how many PPL days both parents can take at the same time: 10 days concurrently for children born or adopted before 1 July 2025, rising to 20 days concurrently from 1 July 2025, with some exemptions Services Australia lists separately. Commonwealth PPL is not affected by any concurrent-leave limit under the Fair Work Act itself; the Act's unpaid parental leave provisions do not impose a matching cap on both parents taking unpaid NES leave at the same time, so the two schemes should not be assumed to run on identical rules.

PPL generally stacks with, rather than replaces, employer-paid leave: Services Australia states that Parental Leave Pay can be taken before, during, or after any paid or unpaid employer-funded leave, including maternity or parental leave, annual leave, and long service leave.

Eligibility for Paid Parental Leave: Work Test and Income Test

PPL eligibility is assessed separately from the NES 12-month service test above, and uses its own work test and income test administered by Services Australia. The work test broadly requires having worked 10 of the 13 months before the child's birth or adoption, with at least 330 hours (around one day a week) worked in that 10-month period, and no more than a 12-week gap between working days within it. The birth mother, or the first-claiming adoptive parent, must always meet the work test; if a second parent also claims, that parent must separately meet it as well. Exceptions can apply for pregnancy-related illness, complications, premature birth, and certain dangerous occupations, which are detailed on Services Australia's site.

There is also an income test, assessed on adjusted taxable income from the financial year before the earlier of the birth, adoption, or claim date. It applies an individual limit first, and if that is not met, a higher combined family limit applies instead. Because these thresholds are indexed and Services Australia's published figures can lag the current financial year, readers should check the current income year's thresholds directly on Services Australia's income test page rather than relying on a figure that may already be out of date by the time it is read.

Superannuation on Paid Parental Leave

For children born or adopted from 1 July 2025, the Australian Taxation Office pays a superannuation contribution on top of Parental Leave Pay, known as the Paid Parental Leave Superannuation Contribution. It is calculated and paid automatically into the recipient's nominated super fund after the relevant financial year ends, with no separate claim required, based on the superannuation guarantee rate, 12% as reflected in recordinglaw.com's Australian employment law hub figures table. This addressed a long-standing gap where PPL, unlike ordinary wages, did not previously attract compulsory superannuation.

Returning to Work

Section 84 provides a return to work guarantee: an employee generally has the right to return to their pre-leave position, or if that position no longer exists, to an available position for which they are qualified and suited that is nearest in status and pay to their old role. An employer must also consult an employee taking parental leave about any significant change to their position that could affect them, under section 83, before the change takes place. Employees who believe they have been dismissed, demoted, or otherwise disadvantaged because of taking or requesting parental leave may have a general protections claim available; see the general protections and adverse action guide referenced above for how that process works.

This article provides general legal information about the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and the Commonwealth Paid Parental Leave scheme administered by Services Australia, current as at 18 August 2026. It is not legal advice and does not account for individual circumstances. Paid Parental Leave rates, income thresholds, and reserved or concurrent-day limits are indexed and change, usually on 1 July each year; always confirm the current figures on Services Australia's own pages before relying on them. For advice about a specific situation, consult a legal practitioner admitted in the relevant Australian state or territory.