This article applies to all national system employers in Australia. 

Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya’s) Act 2025 (Cth)

On 7 November 2025, the Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya’s) Act 2025 (Cth) (the Amending Act) amended the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the Act).

What’s changed?

The changes introduced by the Amending Act prohibit employers (subject to certain exceptions), from refusing or cancelling employer-funded paid parental leave for an employee, on the basis that the employee’s child is stillborn or has died shortly after birth.

This new reform was introduced following the Baby Priya case whereby a mother’s paid parental leave was cancelled by her employer following the loss of her baby at 6 weeks after birth. These reforms provide clarity in the operation of employer-funded paid parental leave (where it is offered by employers), to ensure that parents are not required to negotiate leave entitlements during a period of loss.

Further Information

New protections for employer-funded parental leave

Through the introduction of new section 333X, the Act now prohibits employers from refusing or cancelling employer-funded paid parental leave for an employee on the basis that the employee’s child is stillborn or has died shortly after birth. This new change seeks to clarify the operation of employer-funded paid parental leave where it is offered by employers, and only applies where a child is stillborn or dies on or after 7 November 2025.

This new employee protection applies where:

• the employee would have been entitled to the leave under their terms and conditions of employment if their child had not been stillborn or died;
• the leave is associated with the birth of an employee’s child or the child of an employee’s spouse or de facto partner, or the placement of a child with the employee for adoption.

Importantly, an employer can only refuse or cancel the employer-funded paid parental leave because of the stillbirth or death if an exception applies, or if the employee has requested that the leave be cancelled.

Organisations should be aware that these changes introduced by the Amending Act do not impose an obligation on employers to provide employer-funded paid parental leave where they do not already provide such entitlements.

Exceptions

Organisations should be aware that an employer may, refuse or cancel employer-funded paid parental leave if the terms and conditions of the employee’s employment:

• expressly allow the employer to refuse or cancel the employer-funded paid parental leave because of stillbirth or death of an employee’s child, or
• expressly provide that the employee is not entitled to employer-funded paid parental leave because of stillbirth or death of the employee’s child.

The above exceptions do not however apply if the terms and conditions are varied by the employer after 7 November 2025 to allow for this.

The new protections in new section 333X of the Act also do not apply where under the terms and conditions of the employee’s employment, the employee is entitled to other alternative leave that is expressly available in the event of stillbirth or the death of an employee’s child. This particular exception, is intended to avoid interfering with any existing arrangements as agreed in good faith between an employer and an employee where the parties have already considered the leave that the employee would receive in the event of stillbirth or death of the employee’s child.

Penalties for breaching new protection

Finally, it is important to note that an employer who is found to breach new section 333X of the Act may be liable to a civil penalty of 60 penalty units (currently $19,800) or 600 penalty units (currently $198,000) for a serious contravention.

What you should do

If your organisation provides employer-funded paid parental leave, your organisation should ensure HR and other relevant staff are made aware of the new protection for employer-funded parental leave for employees, in the event that a child is stillborn or dies shortly after birth. Organisations should also ensure such staff are made aware of the new exceptions to this new protection, including that the new protection doesn’t apply if an employee is entitled to other forms of leave relating to stillbirth or the death of a child under the employee’s terms of their employment. Organisations should also consider updating their paid parental leave policy to reflect the new changes introduced by the Amending Act.