Everyone
Extended leave
Extended leave is a period of extra unpaid parental leave taken after primary care leave ends.
What employees are entitled to
If an employee is the primary carer of a child, and they've worked for their employer for 12 months or more, for at least an average of 10 hours a week, they can take up to 52 weeks extended leave — minus the number of weeks of primary carer leave they take. For example:
- if they take the full 26 weeks of primary carer leave, they can take up to 26 weeks of extended leave on top of that
- if they take 20 weeks of primary carer leave, they can take up to 32 weeks of extended leave.
If they’ve worked for their employer for at least 6 months, for at least an average of 10 hours a week, they can take up to 26 weeks extended leave – minus the number of weeks primary carer leave they take. For example, if they take 10 weeks primary carer leave, they can take up to 16 weeks of extended leave.
Sharing extended leave
If an employee and their spouse or partner both meet the eligibility criteria, they can share the extended leave. They can take it at the same time, or one after the other.
Employees who meet the 12-month criterion above may take up to 52 weeks extended leave (less the number of weeks primary carer leave taken, up to 26 weeks). If two parents are sharing the leave and they both meet the 12-month criterion, then they share this amount.
Employees who meet the 6-month criterion above may take up to 26 weeks in total. If two parents are sharing the leave and they both meet the 6-month criterion, then they share this amount.
If one parent meets the 12-month criterion and the other parent meets the 6-month criterion, then the person who meets the 6-month criterion cannot take more than 26 weeks of the total 52 weeks (less the number of weeks primary carer leave taken up to 26 weeks) available to the couple.
When employees can take extended leave?
An employee can start extended leave:
- at any time after their primary carer leave ends
- at any time after their partner’s leave ends
- on any date agreed with their employer.
If they’re eligible to take primary carer or partner’s leave but choose not to take it, then they can start their extended leave either when the baby arrives, or on the date they become the primary carer of the child.
They can also finish their primary carer or partner’s leave, go back to work, and then take extended leave later.
When extended leave ends
If an employee (and/or their spouse or partner) meets the 12-month work criterion, their extended leave must end by:
- the date the child turns 1 year old if they or their spouse or partner gave birth to the child
- the 12-month anniversary of becoming the primary carer of the child.
If they only meet the 6-month work criterion (and their spouse or partner does not meet the 12-month work criterion), their extended leave must end by:
- the date the child turns 6 months old if they or their spouse or partner gave birth to the child
- the 6-month anniversary of becoming the primary carer of the child.
The entitlement to extended leave requires an employee to care for a child. This eligibility requirement is no longer met if the child they are caring for or intend to care for dies. In this case, the employee would need to discuss their circumstances with their employer in good faith. The employer and employee could still agree to bereavement leave or other contractual time off. If the employee returns to work before the date they first gave to their employer, they would still need to give 21 days’ notice.
Template letter to an employer in cases of stillbirth or death of a child [DOCX, 22 KB]
An employee cannot continue to get parental leave payments while they’re on extended leave but may be able to get a Best Start payment from Inland Revenue (IR) instead.
Best Start is a weekly payment and it’s part of IR’s Working for Families package. If they qualify for it, they will get it until their baby turns 1, no matter how much they earn. They cannot get Best Start while they’re getting parental leave payments — Best Start payments begin when their parental leave payments end.
After the child turns 1, their eligibility for Best Start will depend on their income and family situation. They may be able to continue getting Best Start payments until their child turns 3 years old.
Applying for Best Start Payment - Inland Revenue Department(external link)
Types of Working for Families Payments - Inland Revenue Department(external link)