South Africa: creation of leave entitlements for 2nd parents, adoptive parents, and parents of children born from surrogacy agreements

The ‘Labour Laws Amendment Act, 2018’ came into force on 01 November 2019. Inter alia the law introduces the employee’s right, irrespective of gender, to specific second parent leave, adoptive parental leave, and leave for parents having had recourse to surrogacy solutions. Voted in 2018, these amendments alter the 1997 legislation on fundamental labor conditions by introducing these three new leave periods and by eliminating the hitherto three days of ‘family responsibility’ leave.
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The amendments create 10 consecutive days of leave entitlement that can be taken from the day the child is born (for the second parent), or adopted. The amendments also intend for 10 consecutive weeks of adoption leave for children adopted under the age of two, but which cannot be added to the basic 10-day leave. However if there are two adoptive parents in the family unit then one parent can take the ten weeks adoption leave and the other can take the ten days parental leave. Finally, parents

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