{"id":839056,"date":"2025-10-03T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=839056"},"modified":"2025-10-03T16:26:38","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T14:26:38","slug":"what-employers-need-to-know-about-south-africas-new-parental-leave-laws","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/839056\/what-employers-need-to-know-about-south-africas-new-parental-leave-laws\/","title":{"rendered":"What employers need to know about South Africa&#8217;s new parental leave laws"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Constitutional Court has confirmed that South Africa\u2019s parental-leave regime in the BCEA unfairly discriminated between different kinds of parents and has ordered a temporary \u201creading-in\u201d that changes   how leave works with immediate effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These changes are in effect pending legislative changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The judgment suspends the declaration of invalidity for 36 months to allow Parliament to amend the BCEA and UIF Act, but it also sets out how employers must read the BCEA in the interim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Court confirmed that sections 25, 25A, 25B and 25C of the BCEA (and the corresponding UIF provisions) are unconstitutional to the extent that they discriminate between parents as to leave length and UIF benefits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The declaration is suspended for 36 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It also held that the \u201cunder-two\u201d age cap for adoption leave is unconstitutional; that defect is likewise suspended, with Parliament to fix it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the suspension, the Court reads new parental-leave text into the BCEA to govern mmediately. This is how companies should read parental leave with the new changes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Single\/only one employed parent: <\/strong>An employee who is a single parent or the only employed party in a parental relationship is entitled to at least four consecutive months\u2019 parental leave.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Two employed parents: <\/strong>If both parties are employed, they are entitled in the aggregate to four months and ten days\u2019 parental leave, which they may take concurrently, consecutively or partly both, but each parent must take their allocation in a single consecutive block. If they cannot agree, the leave is split as close as possible to half of four months and ten days each, to be completed within four months of the birth\/adoption\/surrogacy date.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Birth recovery remains protected:<\/strong> No employee may work for six weeks after giving birth unless certified fit to do so. The ante-natal timing rules are retained.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Sections re-framed: <\/strong>The interim text deletes BCEA s25A and re-casts s25 (Parental leave) as the core provision; adoption (s25B) and commissioning parental leave (s25C) are aligned to the same shared-leave structure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>UIF benefits have not been re-written: <\/strong> The Court did not impose an interim reading-in for UIF benefits because of fiscal\/administrative complexity. Parliament must fix the UIF Act within the 36-month window, and the Minister must report on progress before the window closes. Supplementary relief may be sought if the window is about to lapse without legislation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What employers should do<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Calendar-plain.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Calendar-plain-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-836537\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Calendar-plain-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Calendar-plain-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Calendar-plain-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Calendar-plain.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Update your policies and contracts now &#8211; don\u2019t wait for the BCEA amendment. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rewrite your parental-leave provisions to mirror the Court\u2019s interim text: shared \u201cfour months and ten days\u201d for two employed parents; full four months where only one party is employed; retain the six-week post-birth no-work rule. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is how the BCEA must be read immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Build a fair sharing mechanism<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Require parents to file a pre-birth\/adoption\/surrogacy plan indicating how they will split leave (concurrent\/consecutive). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Provide a default 50\/50 split if they cannot agree, ensuring completion within four months of the triggering event, per the judgment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Align your payroll and benefits carefully<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Contractual top-ups (if you pay above UIF) should follow the new BCEA leave structure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep a clear distinction between leave entitlement (now re-framed) and UIF benefits (unchanged for now), and brief employees that UIF rules may only change when Parliament acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Update forms and proof requirements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>HR templates should accept any parent who has assumed parental rights and responsibilities under the Children\u2019s Act (the judgment uses this test for parental status) and capture the required written notices of start and return dates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Train your managers to avoid \u201cmother-default\u201d bias<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Court found the previous framework infringed equality and dignity by presuming mothers as default caregivers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Train line managers and payroll to handle all family formations (birth, adoption &#8211; no age cap in principle &#8211; and surrogacy) on equal terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Communicate now, then watch for the amendment Bill<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Issue an employee circular summarising the new interim regime and signalling that statutory amendments are expected within 36 months, with a further update to follow once Parliament finalises the BCEA\/UIF changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Commentary by Ali Sonday and Paula Phukuje from Fairbridges Attorneys<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Legal experts have warned employers in South Africa to immediately review their parental leave policies to align with changes to the laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":727224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[20928,10546],"class_list":["post-839056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-bcea","tag-parental-leave"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839056"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":839058,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839056\/revisions\/839058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}