Nadia working in fintech asks "I would like to apply for parental leave. What am I entitled to?"

If you have a question or are unsure of your rights, if you need support or representation, freephone ROI 1800 81 91 91 NI 0800 358 0071 or email us at advice@fsunion.org - If you are unable to call us, please complete the confidential form HERE and we will respond directly.

In ROI

Hi Nadia, You are entitled to take up to 26 weeks of parental leave.

You can take this leave as:

• One continuous period of leave or
• 2 separate blocks of a minimum of 6 weeks each
• If your employer consents, broken into working days and/or hours

There must be a gap of at least 10 weeks between the 2 periods of parental leave per child.

You must have been working for your employer for at least a year to get the full amount of parental leave. You must give your employer at least 6 weeks’ notice before taking parental leave.

In NI

Hi Nadia, if you’re an employee in Northern Ireland with at least one year’s continuous service, you’re entitled to unpaid parental leave to care for your child.

Here’s what you need to know:

You can take up to 18 weeks’ unpaid leave for each child, up to their 18th birthday.

The leave is per parent, per child, so if you’ve got two kids, that’s 36 weeks in total.

Unless your employer agrees otherwise, you can only take up to four weeks per year per child.

Leave has to be taken in whole weeks, not days (unless your child is disabled, then days are allowed).

You need to give your employer at least 21 days’ notice, and they can postpone it for up to six months if it would seriously disrupt the business but only if they put it in writing within seven days of your request.

Important points:

Your job is protected during parental leave.

Your contract continues (except for pay), so you still build up holiday and pension during the time off.

If you’re part of a union, your rep can help if your employer is dragging their feet or refusing unreasonably.

This is different from maternity, paternity, shared parental, or adoption leave, which all have separate rules.