Keeping in touch days: two different rules

Unpaid parental leave: up to 10 days

Under the Fair Work Act you and your employer can agree to keeping in touch days while you are on unpaid parental leave. A meeting, some training, a handover before you come back. You are paid your normal wage for the time you work.

• Up to 10 days in your first 12 months of unpaid leave, and up to 20 if you extend beyond 12 months.
• Not in the first 14 days after the birth.
• Only you can suggest one before day 42. After that your employer can ask, but you can say no.
• A part day uses up a whole day from your balance.
• Not available on flexible unpaid parental leave days.

Parental Leave Pay: no keeping in touch days

Parental Leave Pay used to allow 10 keeping in touch days. That rule was repealed, and it does not apply to babies born or adopted from 1 July 2023. Now Services Australia treats you as working on any day you work 1 hour or more, and keeping in touch activities such as meetings and training count.

If that happens you pick a new day for that Parental Leave Pay day or return it to your balance to use later. Because your days can be taken flexibly, the practical fix is simple: do the keeping in touch day on a day that is not a Parental Leave Pay day.