Now lawWork & Super Introduced in the House of Representatives, 09 Oct 2025

Parents keep paid leave if their baby is stillborn or dies

This law is named after baby Priya. It protects the paid leave some bosses give new parents, when a baby is stillborn or dies. It covers mothers, partners and parents who adopt. There are two small exceptions.

Official name: Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya’s) Bill 2025

Who it affects

• Parents whose employer pays parental leave: If their baby is stillborn or dies, their boss cannot take that paid leave away.
• Partners and adoptive parents: The rule also covers leave for a partner's birth or a child placed for adoption.
• Employers that offer paid parental leave: They must keep the leave going unless the deal says otherwise. They cannot change policies to dodge the rule.
• Employers that offer no paid parental leave: Nothing changes. They do not have to start offering it.

Leave when a baby dies

New parents in Australia can get up to three kinds of help. The first is unpaid parental leave. It is a legal minimum under the Fair Work Act 2009, the main law on pay and conditions at work. The second is Parental Leave Pay, which the government pays. Some workers also get paid leave from their boss.

A 2020 change to the law helped parents whose baby is stillborn or dies. They keep their unpaid leave and their government pay. Leave paid by the boss was different. It is set by job contracts, workplace policies and enterprise agreements. An enterprise agreement is a deal on pay and conditions between a boss and staff. Some of these let the boss cancel the leave if the baby died.

The bill is named after baby Priya. Her parents started an online petition. Over 32,000 people signed it. The Parliamentary Library says the bill came partly from that petition. The Library works for all MPs and takes no side. The government had also promised the change at the election.

Paid parental leave protected

The law adds a new section 333X to the Fair Work Act. It applies when a child is stillborn or dies. It covers a worker who would otherwise have had paid leave from their boss.

The boss must not refuse to let the worker take that leave because the baby died. The boss must not cancel any part of it either. This holds even after the leave has started. The only way it can be cut short is if the worker asks.

It covers leave for the birth of a child to the worker or their partner. It also covers leave for a child placed with the worker for adoption.

The rule counts as a workplace right. That means a boss cannot sack a worker for using it. The boss cannot move them to a lower job or treat them badly either.

The government gives the example of Ayu. Her work deal gives 16 weeks of paid parental leave. Her daughter Yanti is born early and dies six weeks later. Her boss wanted to cancel the leave. Under this law Ayu keeps all 16 weeks. She also keeps her 3 days of compassionate leave, which is time off when someone close dies.

The two exceptions

The first exception is where the worker's job terms clearly allow it. They might say the boss can cancel the leave if the baby dies. They might say no paid leave applies then. If the terms say nothing, or are unclear, the worker is still protected.

A boss cannot use this exception by changing its policy on its own after the law started. In the government's example, Ameer's boss did this. The new policy said leave would end on a stillbirth. His daughter Hala was then stillborn. He keeps his 11 weeks of paid leave.

The second exception is where the worker gets other leave that is clearly meant for a stillbirth or a child's death. The usual minimum unpaid leave and compassionate leave do not count for this.

In the government's example, Jessica's deal gives 12 weeks of paid parental leave. It also gives 6 weeks of special paid leave if a baby dies. Her son Hugo dies 15 days after birth. Her boss can switch her from the 12 weeks to the 6 weeks. This is allowed because the deal already planned for it.

Fines for breaking the rule

A worker, their union or a Fair Work inspector can take a boss to court for breaking the rule. A Fair Work inspector is an official who checks that bosses follow work laws.

The court sets the fine. The top fines are counted in units, and each unit is a set amount of money. The top fine is 60 units for a person and 300 for a small business. It is 1,500 for a larger company. For a serious breach the fines are ten times higher. That is up to 15,000 units for a large company.

A gap for surrogacy families

In surrogacy, one woman carries a baby for other people, who become its parents. The government says the law covers surrogacy and adoption.

The Parliamentary Library found one gap. The leave of the woman who carries the baby is protected. But the parents-to-be may not be covered in one case. That is if the baby dies before state law makes them the legal parents.

Start date

The law started the day after it was signed, which was 7 November 2025. It is not backdated. It covers stillbirths and deaths on or after that day.

It applies to enterprise agreements made before or after that day. It also applies to job contracts already in place. It does not matter if the worker had asked for, been given or already started the leave.

The government brought the bill into the House of Representatives, the lower house of Parliament, on 9 October 2025. The House passed it on 29 October 2025. The Senate, the upper house, passed it on 3 November 2025. The Governor-General, who stands in for the King, signed it into law on 6 November 2025. It became Act number 56 of 2025.

How they voted

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum
• Bills Digest

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