Section 78 — Employment Rights Act 1996: Special cases.

Special cases. 78 1 Regulations under section 76 may make provision—

a about redundancy during a period of parental leave;

b about dismissal (other than by reason of redundancy) during a period of parental leave.

2 Provision by virtue of subsection (1) may include—

a provision requiring an employer to offer alternative employment;

b provision for the consequences of failure to comply with the regulations (which may include provision for a dismissal to be treated as unfair for the purposes of Part X).

3 Regulations under section 76 may provide for an employee to be entitled to choose to exercise all or part of his entitlement to parental leave—

a by varying the terms of his contract of employment as to hours of work, or b by varying his normal working practice as to hours of work, in a way specified in or permitted by the regulations for a period specified in the regulations.

4 Provision by virtue of subsection (3)—

a may restrict an entitlement to specified circumstances;

b may make an entitlement subject to specified conditions (which may include conditions relating to obtaining the employer’s consent);

c may include consequential and incidental provision.

5 Regulations under section 76 may make provision permitting all or part of an employee’s entitlement to parental leave in respect of a child to be transferred to another employee in specified circumstances.

6 The reference in section 77(1)(c) to absence on parental leave includes, where appropriate, a reference to a continuous period of absence attributable partly to parental leave and partly to—

a maternity leave, or b adoption leave, or to both.

7 Regulations under section 76 may provide for specified provisions of the regulations not to apply in relation to an employee if any provision of his contract of employment—

a confers an entitlement to absence from work for the purpose of caring for a child, and b incorporates or operates by reference to all or part of a collective agreement, or workforce agreement, of a kind specified in the regulations.