There has recently been much confusion about whether parental leave came into effect on 1 November 2019.
The Labour Laws Amendment Act (“the Act”) was introduced in 2018. The Act amended the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 75 of 1997 (“BCEA”) to include rights to parental leave, commissioning parental leave (that is, surrogates) and adoptive leave. It also amended the Unemployment Insurance Act 63 of 2001 (“UIF Act”) to enable employees to claim benefits from the Fund for the aforementioned new forms of leave.
Please note that only certain sections in the Act came into effect on 1 November 2019. The effect of these sections are as follows:
- Only the amendments to the UIF Act have come into effect and not the amendments to the BCEA. Accordingly, at present an employer is not obliged or required by law to grant any of parental leave, commissioning parental leave and adoptive leave.
- However, if an employer elects to use its discretion to grant parental leave to an employee, he or she can now claim parental leave benefits from the Unemployment Insurance Fund. No benefits can be claimed for commissioning parental leave and adoptive leave as yet.