To be eligible for paid parental leave, you will need evidence that:
- you work for a New Zealand employer
- you pay income tax to New Zealand, and
- your employment relationship is subject to New Zealand employment law.
Parental leave eligibility tool
You can calculate how much parental leave you or your partner are entitled to by using the parental leave eligibility tool.
Answer each question to find out if, and for how long, you or your partner are entitled to parental leave.
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Question 4
Question 5
Question 6
Question 7
Answer
Question 8
Answer
You will be entitled to up to 26 weeks' parental leave payments if you are not working so you can care for your child.
Question 9
Do you have a spouse or partner (who will also be responsible for the child)?
Question 10
Answer
You are entitled to take up to 52 weeks of parental leave (26 weeks primary carer leave and a further 26 weeks' extended leave). You are entitled to up to 26 weeks' parental leave payments while you are not working so you can care for your child.
Question 11
Do you have a spouse or partner (who will also be responsible for the child)?
Answer
You are not entitled to take parental leave, but you could apply to your employer for negotiated carer leave. You are entitled to up to 26 weeks' parental leave payments while you are not working so you can care for your child.
Question 12
Do you have a spouse or partner (who will also be responsible for the child)?
Answer
You are entitled to take up to 26 weeks of parental leave. You are entitled to up to 26 weeks' parental leave payments while you are not working so you can care for your child.
Question 13
Do you have a spouse or partner (who will also be responsible for the child)?
Answer
You have no entitlement to parental leave or parental leave payments.
Question 15
Will your partner have worked for the same employer for at least an average of 10 hours a week for the 52 weeks before your child arrives?
Question 16
Will your partner have worked for the same employer for at least an average of 10 hours a week for the 26 weeks before your child arrives?
Question 17
Will your partner have worked for the same employer for at least an average of 10 hours a week for the 52 weeks before your child arrives?
Question 18
Will your partner have worked for the same employer for at least an average of 10 hours a week for the 26 weeks before your child arrives?
Answer
You are entitled to 2 weeks' partner's leave. Your partner is entitled to up to 26 weeks' extended leave. Your partner can share their leave with you and you are entitled to a further 26 weeks' extended leave. Your partner can get up to 26 weeks' parental leave payments while not working and caring for your child. Your partner could transfer some or all of the parental leave payments to you while you are not working.
Answer
You are entitled to 2 weeks' partner's leave. Your partner is entitled to up to 26 weeks' extended leave. Your partner can share their leave with you and you are entitled to a further 26 weeks' extended leave. Your partner can get up to 26 weeks' parental leave payments while not working and caring for your child. Your partner could transfer some or all of the parental leave payments to you while you are not working.
Question 21
Has your partner been employed as an employee or worked a self-employed person for at least an average of 10 hours per week over any 26 of the 52 weeks just before the due date for the arrival of the child?
Answer
You are entitled to 1 week's partner's leave. Your partner is entitled to up to 52 weeks' extended leave (or 26 weeks' primary carer leave and a further 26 weeks' extended leave). Your partner can share their leave with you (but the total amount you take can't be more than 26 weeks excluding your partner's leave). Your partner can get up to 26 weeks' parental leave payments while not working and caring for your child. Your partner could transfer some or all of the parental leave payments to you while you are not working.
Answer
You are entitled to 1 week's partner's leave. Your partner is entitled to up to 26 weeks' extended leave. Your partner can share their leave with you but the total amount you take can't be more than 26 weeks (excluding your partner's leave). Your partner can get up to 26 weeks' parental leave payments while not working and caring for your child. Your partner could transfer some or all of the parental leave payments to you while you are not working.
Question 24
Has your partner been employed as an employee or worked as a self-employed person for at least an average of 10 hours per week over any 26 of the 52 weeks just before the due date for the arrival of the child?
Answer
You are entitled to 2 weeks' partner's leave. You are entitled to 52 weeks' extended leave. Your partner is eligible for up to 26 weeks' parental leave payments while not working and caring for your child. Your partner is not entitled to parental leave but they could apply to their employer for negotiated carer leave or take time off work if they are self-employed. Your partner could transfer some or all of the parental leave payments to you while you are not working.
Answer
You are entitled to 2 weeks' partner's leave. You are entitled to 52 weeks' extended leave. Neither you nor your partner are eligible for parental leave payments. Your partner is not entitled to parental leave.
Answer
You are entitled to 1 week's partner's leave. You are entitled to 26 weeks' extended leave. Your partner is eligible for up to 26 weeks' parental leave payments while not working and caring for your child. Your partner is not entitled to parental leave but they could apply to their employer for negotiated carer leave or take time off work if they are self-employed. Your partner could transfer some or all of the parental leave payments to you while you are not working.
Answer
You are entitled to 1 week's partner's leave. You are entitled to 26 weeks' extended leave. Neither you nor your partner are eligible for parental leave payments. Your partner is not entitled to parental leave.
Question 29
Will your partner have worked as an employee for at least an average of 10 hours a week for the 26 weeks before your child arrives?
Question 30
Will your partner have worked as a self-employed person for at least an average of 10 hours per week over any 26 of the 52 weeks just before the due date for the arrival of the child?
Question 31
Will your partner have worked for the same employer for at least an average of 10 hours a week for the 52 weeks before your child arrives?
Question 32
Will your partner have worked for the same employer for at least an average of 10 hours a week for the 26 weeks before your child arrives?
Answer
Your partner has no entitlements.
Answer
Your partner is not entitled to take parental leave. You could choose to transfer all or some of your parental leave payments to your partner, provided they are not working while receiving payments (eg take negotiated carer leave).
Answer
Your partner is entitled to take 2 weeks' partner's leave. Your partner is entitled to take 52 weeks extended leave (but the total amount of leave both of you take added together can't be more than 52 weeks (not including partner's leave)). You could choose to transfer all or some of your parental leave payments to your partner, provided they are not working while receiving payments.
Answer
Your partner is entitled to take 1 week's partner's leave. Your partner is entitled to take 26 weeks extended leave. The total amount of leave both of you take added together can't be more than 52 weeks (not including partner's leave) if you are entitled to take 52 weeks, or otherwise 26 weeks. You could choose to transfer all or some of your parental leave payments to your partner, provided they are not working while receiving payments.
Answer
This has not affected your entitlement stated in the previous answer.
Special situations to be aware of
If you are both an employee of an organisation and run your own business as a self-employed person, you cannot combine these hours to meet the parental leave payment threshold test. You must meet the threshold test and be eligible as either an employee or as a self-employed person.
If you are a shareholder employee (i.e. owner of a company that you are employed in), you may qualify as either a self-employed person or an employee. Again, you can only meet the payment threshold test in either your employment or self-employment. However, note that if you meet the payment threshold test in each of your employment and self-employment, you can then combine the amount of earnings calculated to maximise payments you will receive during the payment period.
If you would normally have been but were absent due to any of the following reasons, this time is still counted towards the working period of employment for the purposes of determining whether you meet either the six or 12 month criteria for parental leave:
- on leave with pay
- on leave without pay (other than parental leave) with the employer’s agreement
- pregnant and on primary carer leave prior to the expected date of delivery
- entitled to an ACC payment for that
- on volunteers leave
- absent for any other reason that doesn’t disrupt your normal pattern of employment, in the view of a Labour Inspector.
The Employment Court has previously determined that a period of time where someone has been engaged as an employee, but has not yet started ‘work’ with an employer, will not be counted towards the period of employment with that employer for the purposes of parental leave eligibility requirements.
Usually, an employee's old employer counts as the ‘same employer’ if:
- a trade, business or undertaking is transferred (e.g. sold) from one employer to another
- a body corporate is changed or replaced because of legislation
- trustees take over the business after the employer’s death
- there’s a change in partners, personal representatives or trustees who employ the employee
- the employee is transferred to an 'associated employer' (e.g. a subsidiary).
- If you’re a junior doctor working for a district health board (DHB) and you’re required to rotate between different DHBs as part of your compulsory training, your employments with each employing DHB are treated as one employment for the purposes of determining whether you meet either the six or 12 month criteria for parental leave.
- If you’re a teacher employed by multiple boards of trustees during the eligibility period, your employment by each board of trustees is treated as one employment for the purposes of working out whether you meet either the six or 12 month criteria for parental leave. You will still need to meet the hours of work criteria.
Paid parental leave (primary carer leave and parental leave payments)
Primary carer leave and parental leave payments enable the birth mother to look after a newborn baby and recover from giving birth. If the birth mother is eligible for these, then she will remain eligible regardless of whether the baby unfortunately dies before or after the birth.
The birth mother would still be eligible for 26 weeks of parental leave payments if she:
- meets the relevant eligibility work test as an employee or self-employed person
- has not transferred the entitlement to parental leave payments
- has not returned to work since her payment period begins (this begins when she starts parental leave or when she gives birth, whichever is earlier).
This allows the birth mother to take time away from work to attend to her health and wellbeing.
Paid parental leave can be transferred to a spouse or partner if they have (or intend to have) primary responsibility for the day-to-day care of the child and are eligible. However, it cannot be transferred if the mother or spouse/partner no longer have care of the child, for example, after the death of the child or removal from care. If it has been transferred prior to the loss of care, then it ends on the date of the loss of care.
Unpaid extended leave
The entitlement to extended leave requires an employee to care for a child. This eligibility requirement is no longer met if the child they are caring for or intend to care for unfortunately dies. In this case the employee would need to discuss their circumstances with their employer in good faith.
The employer and employee could still agree to bereavement leave or other contractual time off. If the employee returns to work before the date they first gave to their employer, they would still need to give 21 days’ notice.
Template letter to an employer in cases of stillbirth or death of a child [DOCX, 22 KB]
In surrogacy situations, both the birth mother and the new primary caregiver are fully entitled to paid parental leave (if they meet the eligibility criteria). The birth mother’s entitlement does not end when she hands over care of the child.
More eligibility information
Find out more about parental leave and pay entitlements.
Tools and Resources
Parental leave and payment eligibility tool
Use our tool to determine if you or your partner are entitled to parental leave.
Parental leave and payment eligibility table - PDF 1013KB
A summary of the paid and unpaid parental benefits available to eligible parents.