New parental leave

Everything you need to know about parental leave laws.

As a South African Employee, it can be very frustrating to break through the endless red tape to find out what the laws are on maternity and paternity leave. Due to the high volume of questions received regarding these laws, we have created a short but insightful post with everything you need to know about parental leave laws.

As we all know, South African mothers are entitled to four months unpaid maternity leave which comes with a guarantee that her job will still be there when she returns to work.

In terms of UIF, a new mother can claim from UIF for 17 weeks. In addition, mothers who miscarry in the third trimester or have a stillborn child can claim for 6 weeks.

The UIF benefit in monetary terms

The UIF benefit for moms can range between 38 - 58% of her salary; however, her UIF claim can only go up to a maximum of R12 478.00 An employee may not receive more than this maximum amount no matter how high their normal salary is.

Some employers pay their employees in part or full whilst on maternity leave. If an employer does not pay the full salary to the employee, the outstanding

What about dad?

While the above maternity laws have been in place for quite some time, new dads/partners are now getting the opportunity to apply for paternity leave, as well as claim from UIF. Previously new fathers/partners were only entitled to three days paid family responsibility leave. However, this was changed in November 2018 when the new Labour Laws Amendment Act was signed into law.

Parental leave explained

An employee who is a parent not covered by maternity leave is entitled to 10 consecutive days of paternity leave after the birth of their child and can now claim paternity leave from UIF. The good news is that paternal UIF claims can go up to 66% of the employee’s salary.

The remaining amount can be negotiated with the employer; however, this is not the employer’s responsibility but rather a co-payment given out of goodwill.

We hope that the above information was helpful, if you have any additional questions about parental leave, please feel free to contact us anytime!