Parental Leave Entitlement (Amendment) Regulations, 2011

L.N. 204 of 2011

EMPLOYMENT AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT

(CAP. 452)

Parental Leave Entitlement (Amendment) Regulations, 2011

IN exercise of the powers conferred by articles 10 and 48 (2)

of the Employment and Industrial Relations Act, the Prime Minister

has made the following regulations –

(1) The title of these regulations is the Parental Leave

Entitlement (Amendment) Regulations, 2011 and they shall be

read and construed as one with the Parental Leave Entitlement

Regulations 2003, hereinafter referred to as “the principal

regulations”.

(2) These regulations shall come into force on the 8th

March, 2012.

In sub-regulation (2) of regulation 1 of the principal

regulations, immediately after the words “working parents”, there

shall be inserted the words “and foster carers.”.

In sub-regulation (1) of regulation 2 of the principal

regulations, immediately after the definition “Act”, there shall be

inserted the following new definitions

“ “foster care” means a service for a determinate period

whereby a child is placed in the continuous care of a foster

carer, and through which the child is brought up in a family

environment according to his best interests;

“ “foster carer” means one or more persons, approved

by the Fostering Board, to foster a child in terms of the Foster

Care Act;”.

For subregulation (1) of regulation 3 of the principal

regulations there shall be substituted the following

“(1) These regulations shall apply to all employees,

whether whole-time or part-time, and whether they are

employed on an indefinite or a fixed term contract

Provided that in all cases the employee has been in the

employment of the same employer for a continuous period of

at least twelve months

Provided further that for the purpose of calculating the

twelve month qualifying period in case of employees with a

fixed term contract

(a) when there are successive fixed term contracts

with the same employer, the sum of these contracts shall

be taken into account, and

(b) when there is a fixed term contract which is

renewed within a six month period from its termination,

the said period between the two contracts shall also be

taken into account.”.

In sub-regulation (1) of regulation 4 of the principal

regulations;

(a) for the words “adoption or legal custody of a child”

there shall be substituted the words “adoption, fostering or

legal custody of a child”; and

(b) for the words “a period of three months” there

shall be substituted the words “a period of four months”.

Immediately after regulation 5 of the principal regulations,

there shall be added the following new regulation

5A. The entitlement to parental leave by

“Foster Carers.

employees who are foster carers shall commence from

the date when the employee provides the employer with

either official documentation provided by the Fostering

Board or by the central authority, as the case may be,

that the employee has been accepted as a foster carer, or

with official documentation provided by the Fostering

Board that the review report drawn up by an accredited

agency has been accepted by the Fostering Board in

terms of the Foster Care Act, according to whichever Cap. 491.

bears the most recent date.”.

Immediately after regulation 9 of the principal

regulations, there shall be added the following new regulation

(1) Upon an employee’s return from

parental leave, such employee may request changes to

his working hours and patterns for a specific period of

time. Every employer shall consider and respond to such

requests, taking into account both his and the employee’s

needs.

(2) In order to facilitate the return to work

following parental leave, both the employer and the

employee concerned are obliged to maintain contact

during the period of leave and may make arrangements

for any appropriate reintegration measures, which are to

be decided between the parties themselves.”.