A re-elected Albanese Labor Government will legislate to guarantee that working parents dealing with stillbirth and early infant death can continue to access their employer-paid paid parental leave (PPL).

The action comes off the back of advocacy from Priya’s parents who brought attention to an issue not adequately addressed in existing workplace laws. Priya was born premature at 24 weeks and six days.

Five days after informing her workplace of her daughter’s death, Priya’s mother was sent an SMS notifying her of the termination of her maternity leave.

Federal Labor’s legislative change would be achieved by amending the Fair Work Act 2009 to clarify that an employee’s entitlement to employer PPL cannot be cancelled by an employer when:

• A child is stillborn and the employee would have been entitled to employer PPL if the child had been born alive; or
• A child dies while the employee is on employer PPL, or during a period of time the employee could have accessed employer PPL.

Currently, the Commonwealth’s PPL Scheme does not cancel payments to a parent in situations of stillbirth or early infant death.

The legislative change would bring the private sector into alignment with the Commonwealth scheme, removing any ambiguity for employers and parents.

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