Section 76 — Employment Rights Act 1996: Entitlement to parental leave.

Entitlement to parental leave. 76 1 The Secretary of State shall make regulations entitling an employee who satisfies specified conditions—

a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . b as to having, or expecting to have, responsibility for a child, to be absent from work on parental leave for the purpose of caring for a child.

2 The regulations shall include provision for determining—

a the extent of an employee’s entitlement to parental leave in respect of a child;

b when parental leave may be taken.

3 Provision under subsection (2)(a) shall secure that where an employee is entitled to parental leave in respect of a child he is entitled to a period or total period of leave of at least three months; but this subsection is without prejudice to any provision which may be made by the regulations for cases in which—

a a person ceases to satisfy conditions under subsection (1);

b an entitlement to parental leave is transferred.

4 Provision under subsection (2)(b) may, in particular, refer to—

a a child’s age, or b a specified period of time starting from a specified event.

5 Regulations under subsection (1) may—

a specify things which are, or are not, to be taken as done for the purpose of caring for a child;

b require parental leave to be taken as a single period of absence in all cases or in specified cases;

c require parental leave to be taken as a series of periods of absence in all cases or in specified cases;

d require all or specified parts of a period of parental leave to be taken at or by specified times;

e make provision about the postponement by an employer of a period of parental leave which an employee wishes to take;

f specify a minimum or maximum period of absence which may be taken as part of a period of parental leave. g specify a maximum aggregate of periods of parental leave which may be taken during a specified period of time.