Parental Leave

mazda2

Hi,

Would anyone be able to advise please. I am currently on maternity leave and due to return to school end of Sept. I would like to take parental leave, I looked up circulars on parental leave and am a little confused. It says that parental leave entitlement is 14 working weeks. Do do you count Oct midterm break as a week? And Christmas hols? Ideally I would like to take as much of next year off as possible before returning to work, as by the time i deduct childcare (I have two young children) and travel expenses from my weekly earnings i am left with very little. I am on a CID contract of only 14 hours. I know that parental leave is unpaid, and that next year will be a struggle financially but if i do return to work at end of mat leave it will still be a financial struggle and I would like to spend time with my children while they are so young. Also, I see that parental leave requires the schools consent, do schools permit it?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

solerina

You can take as much or a little parental leave as you like. If must be taken in certain blocks (ie 2 weeks, 5 weeks, 7 weeks...not sure of the exact blocks)..If you want to get paid for mid terms, christmas etc then you must end one block at the mid term and start the next block directly after it..if the block runs across a mid term you wont get paid. So try to be cute about it and you can save weeks and get some money too !!
As far as I know the school cant stop you taking this leave.

RH149

Maybe it's changed since I took it 10 years ago but it was definitely just 14 wks (per child) back then- am sure there's a circular about it on the Dept website (www.education.ie).

rainbowtrout

Schools permit parental leave but you still have to put it in writing.

The 14 weeks are divided into a number of different blocks, and there are different combinations: e.g. 5 weeks + 5 weeks + 4 weeks, or 6 weeks + 6 weeks + 2 weeks. I don't know what the actual combinations are though.

If you are returning to work the end of Sept and there are 4 weeks to the midterm break then you are better off taking a block that brings you to midterm, get paid for midterm break and then take the next block to bring you to christmas or whatever fits that term best. E.g. if it's an 8 week term and with the final week being a monday and tuesday, you could take a 7 week block and go in the two days before Christmas. If there are Christmas tests on you won't be disrupting the classes with the change in teacher. Get paid for Christmas and take your final block of weeks in January and it should get you most of the way through that term. If you could afford to take two or three weeks unpaid leave on top of that it could take you as far as the Feb midterm and return after Feb midterm break.

Ring the Department and ask about the leave and the various combinations and sit down with the calendar and see what suits. A few people I work with have used parental leave and found whoever they dealt with in the Department very helpful.

mazda2

Thanks, i'll contact the department, good to know that schools grants it, that was my biggest fear.

Boober Fraggle

Say it to you principal ASAP. At least then they know they are looking for someone for more than just September. Maybe whoever is in for you this year will be interested in staying on when they would get half the year out of it.

Along with the above, you can only take 14 weeks in a school year, so you would only be able to take 3 weeks after Christmas, and return at the end of January.

solerina

its 14 weeks per child so you can take the entire year off (if you havnt already used up the other childs 14 weeks...and the child is under 7 yrs)

Delphi91

solerina wrote: »

its 14 weeks per child so you can take the entire year off (if you havnt already used up the other childs 14 weeks...and the child is under 7 yrs)

Not true......

First of all, the age of the child has been increased to 13 and secondly, in any given 12-month period, the total amount of time taken off cannot exceed 14 weeks without the consent of the relevant managerial authority:

4.0 Period of Parental Leave available:

4.1 Parental leave shall consist of 14 weeks unpaid leave for each child born on or after 3 June 1996. Where a teacher is entitled to parental leave in respect of more than one child and the children concerned are not children of a multiple birth, the period of parental leave taken by him or her in any period of 12 months shall not, without the consent of the managerial authority, exceed fourteen weeks.
In the case of multiple births this restriction does not apply

(http://www.education.ie/en/Circulars-and-Forms/Archived-Circulars/PPC17-99-Parental-Leave-and-Force-Majeure-Leave-for-Teachers-in-Second-Level-Schools.doc)

What consists of a 12 month period? If the Board of Management approves then surely there would be no problem taking 2 lots of 14 weeks to cover an academic year?

I read recently in the paper that parental leave is to be extended from 14 to 18 weeks in March. Has anyone heard of this and whether it will only be for children born after this date? Thanks

solerina

It can be true...it depends on your school, we have two staff members taking the entire year off at the moment...both using up parental leave from 2 children.

Delphi91

My point about it not being true was that it relies on the consent of the relevant Management Authority - your post seemed to suggest that it was automatic. Maybe I should have said "Not necessarily true......"

joebloggs32

Try and take time off either side of the new year so it will fall over two tax years, thus potentially saving you on income tax at the end of each year.