Short-Term Parental Leave Starts Today, 20 August — One or Two Weeks, Once a Year, 30 Days' Notice for School Holidays

Eligibility: a child aged 8 or under, or in year 2 of primary school or below

The threshold is the same as for ordinary parental leave. Any worker with a child aged 8 or under, or in the second year of primary school or below, qualifies regardless of gender or employment type. This is not a permanent-staff-only scheme; fixed-term and part-time workers qualify if they meet the requirements. The underlying parental leave condition still applies, though — at least six months of continuous service with the employer. If you are three months into a job, the clock you should be counting is that one, not this scheme.

The permitted reasons are set out

This is not a right to peel off a week whenever you like. The reasons the Ministry of Employment and Labor sets out are situations requiring intensive care of a child.

• Closure or suspension of a daycare centre, kindergarten or school
• A child's school holidays
• A child hospitalised through illness or accident
• Attendance suspended because of an infectious disease

The list tells you what the scheme is for. It mixes foreseeable reasons (holidays) with sudden ones (hospitalisation, attendance suspension) — and, as below, the notice period splits along exactly that line.

One or two weeks, once a year

There are two options: one week (7 days) or two weeks (14 days). "Just nine days" or "only Tuesday to Thursday" is not available under this scheme. If you need a few days rather than a block, look at annual leave or family care leave instead. If you are not sure how many days of annual leave you have, how annual leave days are calculated is the faster place to start.

The frequency is once per year. Taking a week and then another week a few months later is not permitted. However, if you have more than one child, you get one use per child per year. If two children's holidays do not overlap, that structure genuinely matters.

Where the leave straddles a calendar year, it counts as one use in the year it began. Two weeks starting in late December and ending in early January is that year's single use.

It comes off the total, but not off the split count

This is the easiest point to misread, so treat the two as separate questions. They are handled differently.

• It counts towards the total parental leave period. The maximum period — up to 18 months where both parents use it — is reduced by whatever you take. Use two weeks and you have two weeks less available later.
• It does not count towards the limit on splitting leave. The cap on how many separate blocks you may divide parental leave into is not consumed by short-term leave. Take two weeks over the holidays and your ability to split a longer stretch later is untouched.

In short, it is a "spends the days, not the card" design. That is what makes taking a single short block much less costly than it used to be.

The notice period depends on the reason

This is where things go wrong in practice. Parental leave normally requires notice 30 days before the intended start date, but short-term leave is operated differently depending on the reason.

• Foreseeable reasons such as school holidays — apply at least 30 days before the intended start date
• Urgent care needs such as a child's illness or accident — you may apply up to the intended start date

Planning to use it over the winter break means filing in writing a month ahead, not mentioning it on the last day of term. Conversely, if your child has just been admitted to hospital and you are told you needed to give 30 days' notice, that is not what the scheme is for.

The employer cannot refuse, only move the timing

An employer must allow an application that meets the requirements. There is one narrow exception: where leave is requested for a school holiday and granting it at the requested time would seriously disrupt business operations, the employer may change the timing in consultation with the worker. That is a change of timing, not a refusal — and it is a consultation, not a unilateral notice.

Dismissal or unfavourable treatment because of parental leave is prohibited outright. If a transfer or a change in your appraisal follows the application, it is worth knowing how an internal report is supposed to work, and if you are being pushed to resign rather than return, read where a recommended resignation and a dismissal part ways first.

The benefit comes from employment insurance, and it has its own deadline

Short-term parental leave is covered by employment insurance parental leave benefit. The amount is not a flat sum: it is calculated from your ordinary wage and the length of the period taken, so a short block is calculated accordingly. Check the exact figure against your own ordinary wage on Employment24 or at your local employment centre.

The deadline matters. Parental leave benefit must be claimed from one month after the leave begins and within 12 months of the day it ends (Employment Insurance Act, Article 70(2)). Taking a short block and then forgetting to claim it is the trap in this scheme. The leave period does not interrupt continuous service, so it still counts towards the continuous employment period used for severance pay.

Checklist

① Confirm the child is 8 or under, or in year 2 of primary school or below → ② check the reason is one of closure, suspension, holidays, hospitalisation or attendance suspension → ③ decide between one and two weeks → ④ apply in writing, 30 days ahead for holidays or by the start date for urgent reasons → ⑤ if the employer asks to move the timing, keep a record of the reason given and the consultation → ⑥ after returning, claim parental leave benefit on Employment24 and diary the 12-month deadline.

One note on dates: the spouse-related measures start later. Allowing spousal maternity leave to be taken from 50 days before the due date, creating spousal miscarriage and stillbirth leave (up to 5 days, the first 3 paid), and permitting parental leave to care for a pregnant spouse all take effect on 18 September. Keep those separate from the 20 August changes when you plan. This article sets out the structure of the scheme and does not substitute for legal advice on an individual case. If a dispute arises with your employer, contact your regional labour office.