A LAW passed last week means that parents in Northern Ireland will be able to access shared paternity leave and pay.
The Work and Families Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 will mean that parents of children due to be born, or placed for adoption, on or after April 5 who meet qualifying conditions will be able to access shared leave and pay in their child’s first year.
The passage of this law was welcomed by the Minister for Employment and Learning Stephen Farry. He said: “This important package of new rights will allow eligible working families to have more choice about how they balance their work and caring commitments.
“Parents can choose to be at home together or to work at different times and share the care of their child during the critical first year. The measures are a proactive response to changing expectations around work and family life.
“It is right that we do more to support the role of fathers and partners who want to contribute more to the care of their children. It is also important to challenge assumptions that only women will ever be absent from the workplace for caring reasons.
“Addressing these points will have long term benefits for all parents, irrespective of gender,” the minister added. These new rights will give fam-ilies greater choice over how they arrange childcare during this time.
It will allow working mothers the option to end their maternity pay and leave early, and to share untaken leave and pay with their partner.
Adopters across Northern Ireland will similarly be able to bring their adoption leave and pay to an early end to opt into shared parental leave and pay with their partner.
Key elements of the new law include:
Employed mothers will con-tinue to be entitled to 52 weeks of Maternity Leave and 39 weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance.
If they choose to do so, an eligible mother can end her maternity leave early and, with her partner or the child’s father, opt for Shared Parental Leave instead of Maternity Leave.
The package of new rights also includes the extension to all qualifying employees of the right to request flexible working from employers.