{"id":845299,"date":"2025-12-15T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=845299"},"modified":"2025-12-15T09:37:32","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T07:37:32","slug":"new-law-in-south-africa-bringing-big-changes-for-families-and-employers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business-opinion\/845299\/new-law-in-south-africa-bringing-big-changes-for-families-and-employers\/","title":{"rendered":"New law in South Africa bringing big changes for families and employers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Constitutional Court has ruled that parents can now split four months of maternity leave between them, which brings significant changes to how employees take time off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Constitutional Court ruling, both parents now have an equal entitlement to parental leave, with parents allowed to adjust their leave to a maximum of 4 months of maternity leave and 10 days of paternity leave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Single parents and those where only one parent works are entitled to at least four consecutive months of support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ruling is seen as a significant victory for inclusivity. It can ensure that mothers are not excluded from the workforce, while still allowing them to have a parent present in the early months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also allows fathers and non-birth parents to expand their rights from ten days, allowing them to share in their child\u2019s early development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Birth mothers will still need to take six weeks of post-birth recovery leave, counted as part of the shared total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Parents will be allowed to split their leave, either concurrently or consecutively. If no agreement is reached, the leave should be split evenly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a welcome ruling, the ruling will now result in major Human Resources changes across South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Natashia Moosa, Commercial Manager for Africa & Middle-East at Workforce Staffing, said that businesses will now need to plan for more prolonged absences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They will also need to accommodate shared leave arrangements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What this means for employers <\/h2>\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

In most cases, only one parent will be absent at a time; however, when both work for the same employer, overlapping or back-to-back leave periods require careful scheduling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paid leave beyond UIF benefits adds another layer of cost considerations, as employers must consider hiring temporary staff, redistributing responsibilities, or upgrading HR systems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UIF benefits also currently only apply to birth mothers, with non-birth parents, including fathers, will only be able to access UIF benefits once Parliament updates the legislation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 3 years that parliament has been given to update the legislation, the UIF will need to determine how to accommodate extended leave for a broader group of parents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the meantime, Moosa said that employers can get ahead by:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Updating policies and contracts to reflect gender-neutral parental leave.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Replacing terms like \u201cmaternity\u201d and \u201cpaternity\u201d with \u201cparental leave.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Introducing Shared Leave Agreements to clarify whether leave is taken concurrently or consecutively.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Training managers to support fathers and non-birth parents reasonably and foster an inclusive workplace culture.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    While it may provide an administrative headache, offering inclusive parental leave will also become a talent attraction factor, making strategic planning for these costs essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Employers can also further support employees by clearly communicating new rights, planning for coverage in advance, and offering measures such as phased returns or childcare support. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Although there are no tax incentives for extended leave, investing in inclusive policies helps attract and retain talent, positioning businesses as progressive and equitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cBy replacing rigid maternity and paternity distinctions with a flexible, gender-neutral approach, fathers and non-birth parents can now take substantial time off to care for their children,\u201d said Moosa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cBusinesses that embrace these changes benefit from stronger employee engagement, improved retention, and a reputation as an inclusive, equitable employer.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Constitutional Court has ruled that parental leave must be split equally, which provides a major oppurtunity for employers. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":727224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13738],"class_list":["post-845299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-opinion","tag-workforce-staffing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845299","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845299"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845299\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":846471,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845299\/revisions\/846471"}],"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=845299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}