Overview
Employees, including employed dentists, who are pregnant or on maternity, adoption, paternity, shared parental or parental leave (statutory leave for parents) have certain legal rights, benefits and protections in their employment. The benefits vary depending on the type of statutory leave and whether the employee meets the qualifying criteria. Your responsibilities as an employer are considerable and you need to understand the legal requirements and timeframes to ensure that your employee receives (or has access to) their correct benefit entitlement.
Dentists who have a self-employed associate agreement or a worker agreement should refer to the information is available in BDA advice Dentists’ parental leave and pay.
Key learning points
This advice describes the rights of employees who are pregnant or on statutory leave for parents. It explains
- The employment rights that continue throughout the statutory leave for parents and your ongoing obligations to the employee
- Planning for an employee’s return to the same job or, depending on the length of leave taken, a similar job with at least the same terms and conditions
- Eligibility criteria for maternity leave and pay and for adoption leave and pay, with links to online entitlement calculators and report forms
- The employee’s entitlement to share their maternity or adoption leave with their partner (if eligible) and the practicalities of how this might work in practice
- The rights of employees to request reasonable time off to deal with family and dependants in an emergency, and your obligation to provide it.