Managing Paternity Leave (Parental & Maternity Leave)
Overview
Parental leave affects more than an employee's pay while they are away. It also changes how their annual holidays are valued when their next entitlement arises, and that treatment only applies if the leave has been recorded correctly in Tempus from the start.
There is very little for you to do. Tell us as soon as you know, keep us informed if anything changes, and reflect the leave each pay period. We take care of the configuration and the calculations behind it.
⚠️ Note: This article provides a general overview of how parental leave is recorded in Tempus. If you have any questions relating to a specific employee's entitlements, their employment agreement or your legal obligations, please raise this with your payroll contact or seek employment relations advice.
Tell Us As Soon As You Know
As soon as you know an employee is going on parental leave, contact Tempus Support and let us know. You do not need to wait until every detail is confirmed.
Send us as much as you have:
The employee's name.
The expected start date, and the expected return date if one has been discussed.
Any leave they plan to take in the lead-up, for example annual holidays or sick leave immediately before the parental leave begins.
Anything else you have been told about their plans, even if it is not yet settled.
Early notice is what lets us get the account configured before the first pay run is affected, rather than unpicking it afterwards.
Keep Us Informed While They Are Away
Parental leave arrangements change often, and none of those changes are visible to us from our side. If any of the following happen, please tell us at the time:
The start date or the expected return date moves.
The employment relationship changes in any way, including a resignation.
Their working pattern will be different when they return, for example coming back on reduced hours or on different days.
They work any keeping in touch hours.
Keeping in touch hours matter more than they look. They are paid, they are recorded differently from ordinary work, and they can affect the leave arrangement itself, so let us know each time they come up rather than at the end.
Recording the Leave Each Pay Period
Two things happen for every pay period the employee is away, and they work together.
First, the leave application. Submit or approve a leave application covering the period, exactly as you would for any other leave. This is what creates the audit trail: who requested it, who approved it, and any notes or attachments that go with it.
Then the timesheet. The leave also needs to appear on the timesheet, because that is what carries it through to the pay run and onto the employee's record. Every day the employee would ordinarily have worked carries the parental leave work type, for the hours they would ordinarily have worked that day.
The example below shows one week for an employee whose working pattern is 9 hours on a Monday and 8 hours on each of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Friday, Saturday and Sunday are left empty, because those are not days this employee would ordinarily work.
The pay slip covering these periods will show a nil amount, because parental leave is unpaid. That is expected, and the record still needs to be there.
Key Takeaways
Contact Tempus Support as soon as you know an employee is going on parental leave, with whatever dates and plans you have at that point.
Tell us if the dates move, the employment relationship changes, the working pattern on return changes, or the employee works any keeping in touch hours.
For every pay period they are away, reflect the leave application and then reflect the leave on the timesheet.
Record the leave only on the days the employee would ordinarily have worked, for the hours they would ordinarily have worked.
A nil pay slip during parental leave is expected. The record still needs to be there.
If you have any questions about an employee's parental leave, contact Tempus Support via support@payrollbytempus.com and we will work through it with you.