Your parental leave entitlements...they're complicated, but worth a closer look!
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 131 No 7, 2 October 2026, page no.14&15
Question: Can an eligible employee whose spouse has given birth access both short paid parental leave and long paid spousal leave?
If you have ever tried to figure out a tricky parental leave question, either as a teacher applying for leave or an education leader approving it, you will know the answer is rarely found in a single clause.
It might sound simple enough. Surely the answer sits within the relevant industrial instrument, in this case the Paid Parental Leave Directive 08/24 (the directive)? The problem is that directives can be difficult to navigate for anyone not adept at understanding how the many entitlements and exceptions interact, let alone with separate directives and various acts. It is not unusual to move back and forth between clauses and instruments before (hopefully) the full picture emerges. Frequently though, an incorrect interpretation is reached after reading a single clause, without an understanding that something unseen may change the answer entirely.
When it comes to incorrect interpretations, one of the most frequent that the QTU comes across is whether an eligible employee whose spouse has given birth may access both short paid parental leave and long paid spousal leave under Directive 08/24. Too often, our members are told “no”, and sometimes that response is delivered directly by their employer.
The answer is in fact “yes”, and the directive supports this. At first glance though, clause 8.3 of the directive seems to prevent an eligible employee from accessing both entitlements.
8.3 An employee cannot access both entitlements to long paid parental leave and short paid parental leave (i.e. 14 weeks and 1 week).
It seems very clear. However, clause 8.3 cannot be read in isolation.
The reality is that long paid spousal leave, a type of birth-related leave provided by the directive and Division 8 of the Industrial Relations Act 2016, is treated differently to long parental leave for cultural parentage, surrogacy, or adoption.
The directive must be read as a whole, with particular attention paid to two separate and relevant clauses that answer the question.
8.1 Long paid parental leave
(a) An eligible employee whose spouse has given birth can access any of the entitlement to long paid parental leave under clause 8.1 of this directive, which has not been used by a parent of the child, as long paid spousal leave.
(b) An eligible employee will be entitled to 14 weeks long paid parental leave to be taken as the initial absence on their long unpaid parental leave under the IR Act.
8.9 Long paid spousal leave
(d) The conditions applicable to long paid parental leave in this directive apply to long paid spousal leave, except for the conditions at clauses 8.1(b) in relation to it being the initial absence and 8.3.
Clause 8.9 (d) unlocks the answer in two ways. It tells us that the spouse may access any of the unused 14 weeks paid parental leave but ignore the “initial absence” condition at 8.1(b). So, the employee may first take short paid parental leave and later commence long paid spousal leave as the primary caregiver.
The clause also tells us to entirely exclude clause 8.3. Cross it out. It does not apply to an employee accessing long paid spousal leave.
Answer: An eligible employee can access both entitlements to long paid parental leave and short paid parental leave.
This is more than a technical exercise in reading industrial instruments. Modern parental leave provisions like these serve an important purpose. They are designed with gender equality in mind. International research on paid parental leave, including by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, has found providing fathers and partners with meaningful paid leave provisions increases their participation in early caregiving, promotes a more equitable distribution of unpaid care work, and improves women’s workforce participation and career progression.
Complicated though they may be, these are entitlements worth getting right for everyone.