Summary of paid and unpaid leave entitlements

This table provides a summary of the paid and unpaid leave entitlements available to eligible parents who choose to share any of their paid parental leave or extended leave. There are different entitlements available to parents depending on whether they meet the six or 12 month eligibility criteria.

	Mother in employment meets the minimum hours test (see 1 below) for the immediately preceding 12 months	Mother in employment meets the minimum hours test (see 1 below) for the immediately preceding six months	Mother meets the self-employed minimum hours test (see 2 below) for the immediately preceding six or 12 months	Mother has worked for less than six months or does not meet either the minimum hours test (see 1 below) or the self-employed test (see 2 below) for the preceding six or 12 months
Father/partner in employment meets the minimum hours test (see 1 below) for the immediately preceding 12 months	Mother entitled to: 10 days special leave; and 14 weeks paid parental leave; and 52 weeks unpaid extended leave (including the 14 weeks of paid parental leave).	Mother entitled to: 10 days special leave; and 14 weeks paid parental leave.	Mother entitled to 14 weeks paid parental leave.	No leave available to mother.
	Mother can transfer up to 14 weeks paid parental leave to father/partner.	No entitlement to 52 weeks extended leave.	No entitlement to 52 weeks extended leave, but can take as much time from self-employment as needed.	Father/partner has no entitlement to 14 weeks paid parental leave.
	Father/partner entitled to share remaining unpaid leave up to a total of 52 weeks (including 14 weeks paid parental leave).	Mother can transfer up to 14 weeks paid parental leave to father/partner.	Mother can transfer up to 14 weeks paid parental leave to father/partner.	However, father has: An existing entitlement to 52 weeks unpaid leave; and Two weeks unpaid paternity leave.
	Father/partner entitled to two weeks additional unpaid paternity leave.	Father/partner has: An existing entitlement of up to 52 weeks unpaid leave (minus any maternity leave taken); and Two weeks unpaid paternity leave.	Father/partner has: An existing entitlement to take up to 52 weeks extended leave; and Two weeks unpaid paternity leave.
Father/partner in employment meets the minimum hours test (see 1 below) for the immediately preceding six months	Mother entitled to: 10 days special leave; and 14 weeks paid parental leave; and 52 weeks unpaid extended leave (including the 14 weeks of paid parental leave).	Mother entitled to: 10 days special leave; and 14 weeks paid parental leave. No entitlement to 52 weeks extended leave.	Mother entitled to 14 weeks paid parental leave. No entitlement to 52 weeks extended leave, but can take as much time from self-employment as needed.	No leave available to mother.
	Mother can transfer up to 14 weeks paid parental leave to father/ partner. Partners’/paternity leave may be extended to equal the period of paid leave transferred.	Mother can transfer up to 14 weeks paid parental leave to father/partner. But total amount of leave available to both is 14 weeks, including one week partners’/paternity leave available to father/ partner.	Mother can transfer up to 14 weeks paid parental leave to father/partner. Partners’/paternity leave may be extended to equal the period of paid leave transferred.	Father/partner entitled to one week unpaid paternity leave.
Father/partner meets the self-employed minimum hours test (see 2 below) for the immediately preceding six or 12 months	Mother entitled to: 10 days special leave; and 14 weeks paid parental leave; and 52 weeks unpaid extended leave (including the 14 weeks of paid parental leave).	Mother entitled to: 10 days special leave; and 14 weeks paid parental leave. No entitlement to 52 weeks extended leave.	Mother entitled to 14 weeks paid parental leave. No entitlement to 52 weeks extended leave, but can take as much time from self-employment as needed.	No entitlements under the Act.
	Mother can transfer up to 14 weeks paid parental leave to father/partner.	Mother can transfer up to 14 weeks paid parental leave to father/partner.	Mother can transfer up to 14 weeks paid parental leave to father/partner.
Father/partner has worked for less than six months or does not meet either the minimum hours test (see 1 below) or the self-employed test (see 2 below) for the immediately preceding six or 12 months	Mother entitled to: 10 days special leave; and 14 weeks paid parental leave; and 52 weeks unpaid extended leave (including the 14 weeks of paid parental leave).	Mother entitled to: 10 days special leave; and 14 weeks paid parental leave. No entitlement to 52 weeks extended leave.	Mother entitled to 14 weeks paid parental leave. No entitlement to 52 weeks extended leave, but can take as much time from self-employment as needed.	No entitlements under the Act.
	No leave available to father/partner.	No leave available to father/ partner.	No leave available to father/partner.

The minimum hours test is that for the six or 12 months immediately before the expected date of birth, or date of assuming care of a child that you intend to adopt, an employee must have worked for the same employer for an average of 10 hours a week and no less than one hour in every week or 40 hours in every month.
The minimum hours test is that for six or 12 months immediately before the expected date of birth, or date of assuming care of a child that you intend to adopt, the person must have been self-employed for an average of 10 hours a week.

Some people are engaged in more than one type of self-employed work - for example, bee-keeping and gardening. Where you do different types of work at the same time (concurrently) during a six or 12 month period, this is treated as one period of self-employment. Enabling you to group different types of work into one period of self-employment may help you meet eligibility criteria around the number of hours worked.

Where you do different types of work one after the other (consecutively) during a six or 12 month period, this is also treated as one period of self-employment, as long as any breaks between this work are no greater than 30 days.