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Holiday entitlement during parental leave

Your statutory holiday allowance is one of your statutory employment benefits. You continue to build up your statutory holiday allowance during your leave.

Some employers give extra holiday entitlement through an employee's employment contract in addition to the statutory holiday allowance. You will not continue to build up any contractual holiday entitlement during your leave unless you have agreed this with your employer.

Pension rights during parental leave

Your pension rights are unaffected by parental leave.

Redundancies during your parental leave

If you are on parental leave you should be treated the same as any other employee if a redundancy situation arises. This includes the right to be informed and consulted about the redundancy and consideration for any other job.

Your employer cannot select you for redundancy:

• because you are taking parental leave
• have requested to take parental leave
• have taken parental leave

However, if you are fairly selected for redundancy (eg because your entire department has been identified to be made redundant) then you can be made redundant.

Returning to work

As long as the leave is for less than four weeks you will be able to go back to the same job. You should also benefit from any improvements in employment terms and conditions, for example if there has been a general pay rise.

If your leave is for longer than four weeks you are entitled to return to the same job. If this is not possible you are entitled to return to a similar job with the same or better status and terms and conditions as the old job. Your employer should not treat you unfairly or sack you for taking or asking to take parental leave.

Where to get help

If you experience problems while you are on parental leave, talk to your employer first of all. You may need to make a complaint using your employer’s internal grievance procedure.

For more information on where to get help with employment issues visit the employment contacts page.

• How to resolve a problem at work (employment section)

• Employment contacts

Useful contacts

• Acas (Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service)

• Citizens Advice Bureau

• Labour Relations Agency, Northern Ireland