Industrial Relations Act 2016

This section applies if an employee whose spouse is pregnant or has given birth to a child wants to take birth-related leave.

The employee must give the employer—

for long birth-related leave—at least 10 weeks written notice of intention to take the leave; and

at least 4 weeks written notice of the dates on which the employee wants to start and end the leave.

The employee must, before starting the leave, give the employer—

if required by the employer—sufficient evidence to satisfy a reasonable person that the employee’s spouse is pregnant and the expected date of birth; and

for long birth-related leave—a statutory declaration by the employee stating—

the period of any birth-related leave sought by the employee’s spouse; and

that the employee is seeking the leave because the employee is to be responsible for the care of the child.

Without limiting subsection (3)(a), the employer may require the evidence to be a health practitioner’s certificate confirming the matters mentioned in that subsection.