Keeping in touch allows your employee to remain connected to their workplace and helps them transition back into work.
A paid work activity for the purpose of keeping in touch should help your employee to refresh their skills, transition back into the workplace, become familiar with new and updated processes or take part in forward planning discussions or meetings that may affect their role.
For example, your employee could participate in a planning meeting, participate in training or perform work to become familiar with the workplace/ their role before returning to work.
Here’s the lowdown:
Your employee can access up to 10 keeping in touch days without losing their entitlement to Parental Leave Pay. This is from the time they become their child’s primary carer until they return to work.
You and your employee must both agree to take part in a keeping in touch activity. Either party can decide they don’t want the keeping in touch activity to take place.
Your employee can’t access a keeping in touch day within the first 2 weeks after either the birth or adoption of their child.
For the purpose of keeping in touch, 1 hour or more of paid work activity counts as 1 day. This counts towards the 10 day limit.
Your employee gets paid their normal wage and accumulates leave entitlements for each keeping in touch day or part day.
Your employee can’t get paid leave and perform paid work at the same time. If your employee accesses a keeping in touch day while on paid leave, you may need to either extend their period of paid leave or credit back the paid leave.
Accessing a keeping in touch day while on unpaid parental leave won’t extend your employee’s unpaid parental leave period.
If the employee extends their period of unpaid parental leave beyond 12 months, they can take an additional 10 days.
Let us know if this helps or if you have any further questions regarding Parental Leave and Keeping in touch days
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