Baby Priya’s Bill: Prohibiting cancellation of parental leave for stillbirth or death

Under both the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act) and the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 (Cth), an employee remains entitled to unpaid parental leave and government-funded parental leave pay if a child is stillborn or dies.

From 7 November 2025, an employer cannot refuse or cancel any upcoming planned periods of paid parental leave if their employee’s child is stillborn or dies during the first 24 months of life unless an exception applies or the employee requests that the leave be cancelled. These employees can start paid parental leave in relation to the stillbirth or death of a child, even if they have not previously given notice to you.

Exceptions include:

a right to cancel employer-funded paid parental leave under an employment contract or enterprise agreement (only for terms and conditions in effect before 7 November 2025); and
situations where the terms and conditions of employment provide alternative leave arrangements for the stillbirth or death of a child.

Alternative leave arrangements do not include an eligible employee’s entitlement to compassionate leave and unpaid parental leave under the FW Act, or an entitlement under their terms and conditions of employment with the same or substantially the same effect (e.g. provisions in enterprise agreements, modern awards, workplace policies and contracts of employment that in essence have the same effect as the entitlements in the FW Act).

Employees in these circumstances who wish to return to work earlier can do so by providing at least 4 weeks’ written notice.

Employees who are on unpaid parental leave can access paid compassionate leave following the stillbirth or death of the child in relation to whom the employee is taking the leave.

Parents who experience premature birth and other birth-related complications that require the baby to be hospitalised immediately following birth can agree with you to effectively put their unpaid parental leave ‘on hold’ while their baby is hospitalised, and resume it when the baby goes home. This means that where a baby remains in hospital or is hospitalised immediately following birth, you can agree with the employee returning to work while their baby is in hospital.

Because the employee is not on unpaid leave during this period, any work performed by the employee counts towards the employee’s period of service for the purpose of service-based entitlements.

These changes come as a result of a campaign by the parents of baby Priya, who was born prematurely and ultimately died. After the death, Priya’s mother’s employer cancelled her pre-approved parental leave.

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