Casual? You can still get paternity leave

Unpaid leave: the Fair Work test

Under the Fair Work Act a casual employee can take unpaid parental leave if both of these are true:

• You have worked for your employer on a regular and systematic basis for at least 12 months.
• You would have had a reasonable expectation of keeping that regular work, if not for the birth or adoption.

Meet both and you get the same as a permanent employee: up to 12 months, up to 130 of it as single flexible days, and the right to return to your job.

Parental Leave Pay: the work test

The government payment does not care whether you are casual, part time or full time. It looks at whether you worked enough before the birth:

• Worked in 10 of the 13 months before the birth or adoption.
• At least 330 hours in those 10 months, about a day a week.
• No gap of more than 12 weeks between work days.

Hours from different jobs and employers add up. So a casual with irregular shifts who fails the Fair Work test can still get every Parental Leave Pay day. Run the checker and choose casual.