The Employment Relations Authority has agreed that the parental leave incentive payment for early return from parental leave is payable whether the NZPFU member sought 12 months leave or less.

Any NZPFU member covered by the collective employment agreement who has been refused the parental leave incentive payment (clause 1.4.2.3)  for early return to work is advised to immediately notify FENZ to make the payment.  Please copy secretary@nzpfu.org.nz into the claim.

The relevant clauses in the Collective provide the following:

Parental Leave

1.4.2             Parental Leave as special leave without pay shall be granted to a pregnant female worker, or the partner of a pregnant female worker where they have transferred their entitlement to parental leave under the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987. It is not to be granted as sick leave on pay. An application for leave under this heading must be supported by a medical certificate.

1.4.2.1          Leave of up to twelve months is to be granted to workers with at least one year’s service at the time of commencing leave.

1.4.2.2          For those with less than one year’s service, parental leave up to six months is to be granted.

1.4.2.3          Where a worker returns to duty before the expiration of twelve month leave without pay and completes a further six month service, they qualify for a payment equivalent to thirty working days on pay (calculated at the rate payable for the thirty working days immediately following the cessation of duty). For coloured watch workers it is equivalent to 8.5 weeks’ pay, for yellow watch workers it is equivalent to 7.5 weeks’ pay, and for black watch workers it is equivalent to 6 weeks’ pay.

In May 2023 FENZ Chief Advisor Michelle Richards sent a memo to the People Branch Leadership team setting out a new policy she claimed was “agreed”.

The new policy headed “New Parental Leave Grant Payment application – NZPFU CEA” was not agreed with the NZPFU.  We were not even consulted about its content.  This was a bizarre situation as the parties had amended the clause in the December 2022 settlement to clarify the amount payable.  FENZ did not seek at that time to change the eligibility or application, yet 5 months later arbitrarily tried to do so.

Michelle Richard’s memo attempted to restrict the payment only to those NZPFU members who had applied for and been granted 12 months unpaid parental leave, took a minimum of three months leave and then completed a further 6 months upon return from unpaid parental leave.  The clause does not refer to any requirement to have applied for 12 months or to have taken at least 3 months parental leave.

The NZPFU disputed the arbitrary and incorrect restrictions on the application and FENZ’s response was to put a “freeze” on any payments.

DCE People Janine Hearn wrote to the NZPFU in June 2023 claiming the memo was a “more liberal approach” and disputed it was detrimental or disadvantageous.  For the members frozen out of the payment it was certainly disadvantageous and the claim that the new policy was more liberal was untenable.

The Employment Relations Decision included “I agree with the NZPFU’s position that the incentive payment in clause 1.4.2.3 of the Collective Agreement was intended by the parties be a contractual right for workers who are granted periods of less than 12 months parental leave. It is not limited only to workers who were granted 12 months of parental leave.”

In unity,
Wattie Watson
National Secretary