Yes, you can be made redundant while on maternity leave, but only if your job is genuinely no longer needed by anyone. You must be consulted while you are away, and the leave counts for notice but not for redundancy pay.
Redundancy can touch parental leave at three moments: before the leave starts, during it, and on the way back. At each one the same law applies, but the leave changes the numbers. This guide sets out when a redundancy during parental leave is lawful, how your notice, redundancy pay, leave balances and tax-free limit are worked out with the leave factored in, what happens to your Parental Leave Pay, and how long you have to challenge it. The general legal test is in genuine redundancy.
Key takeaways
- Lawful only if the job is gone. If your role still exists and a replacement is doing it, it is not a redundancy.
- Consultation happens while you are on leave, as the decision is made, not when you come back.
- A job abolished because of your absence on parental leave is treated as a termination for a prohibited reason, and adverse action because of pregnancy or family responsibilities is unlawful.
- Notice counts your unpaid leave; redundancy pay does not. Near 10 years of service, leaving the leave out can raise the NES payment from 12 weeks to 16.
- Parental Leave Pay continues. Days your employer was paying move to Services Australia.
- Redundancy before the leave can put the Parental Leave Pay work test at risk, because leave paid out on termination is not work.
Can you be made redundant while on maternity leave?
Yes. Redundancy is when a business no longer needs an employee's job to be done by anyone, and nothing in the Fair Work Act exempts an employee on parental leave. The Fair Work Ombudsman says that if a job is made redundant while the employee is on parental leave, the employer has to give the correct notice and pay out any entitlements, including redundancy pay.
What the leave changes is the scrutiny. The employer must be able to show the job itself has gone, that it consulted you while you were away, and that your leave or pregnancy was not the reason. If it cannot, the dismissal can be challenged.
Fair Work Ombudsman, Redundancy (content last updated 28 August 2026): "Redundancy is when a business no longer needs an employee's job to be done by anyone." Fair Work Ombudsman, Ending employment during parental leave (content last updated 23 October 2025; read 11 October 2026): "If an employee's job is made redundant while on parental leave, the employer has to: give them the correct notice; pay out any entitlements, including redundancy pay."
When it is not a genuine redundancy
Four facts commonly turn a redundancy during parental leave into an unlawful or unfair dismissal.
| What happened | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| The person covering your leave is still doing your job | You are entitled to your pre-leave job even if a replacement is working in it. A job still being done is not redundant. |
| There was another job you could have done | A dismissal is not a genuine redundancy if the employer could reasonably have given you another job in the business or an associated entity. On return, the Act gives you an available position nearest in status and pay if your old one no longer exists. |
| Nobody told you about the change until it was done | Your employer must take all reasonable steps to give you information and a chance to discuss the effect on your role, as the decision is made. Award or agreement consultation duties are part of the genuine redundancy test. |
| Your role went because you were away, or you were picked because you were pregnant | A position abolished because of your absence, or proposed or probable absence, during parental leave is taken to be a termination for that prohibited reason (s 772(3)). Adverse action because of pregnancy, breastfeeding or family or carer's responsibilities is also unlawful (s 351). |
The selection point is separate from the genuine redundancy test. The Fair Work Commission treats the selection process as irrelevant to whether a redundancy was genuine, but an unlawful selection process can found a general protections or discrimination claim. How the return to work itself plays out when your job has changed is in returning to work after maternity or parental leave, and consultation clauses are covered in redundancy consultation.
Fair Work Ombudsman, Returning to work from parental leave (2 September 2026): "They're entitled to this job even if another person is working in their role as a replacement." Fair Work Ombudsman, Redundancy (28 August 2026): not genuine if the employer "could have reasonably given the employee another job within the employer's business or an associated entity." Fair Work Ombudsman, Ending employment during parental leave (23 October 2025): "Employers must take all reasonable steps to provide information to the employee about the change and an opportunity to discuss the effect on their role. This has to occur as the decision is made, not when the employee comes back to work from parental leave." Fair Work Ombudsman, Parental leave and related entitlements (11 May 2026): consultation on decisions with "a significant effect on the status, pay or location of their pre-parental leave position".
Fair Work Act 2009 s 389(1): genuine redundancy requires that the employer "no longer required the person's job to be performed by anyone" and "complied with any obligation in a modern award or enterprise agreement ... to consult about the redundancy." s 84: "the employee's pre-parental leave position; or if that position no longer exists--an available position for which the employee is qualified and suited nearest in status and pay to the pre-parental leave position." s 772(1)(g): "absence from work during parental leave"; s 772(3): where the position no longer exists and the reason is "the employee's absence, or proposed or probable absence, during parental leave". s 351(1) grounds include "family or carer's responsibilities", "pregnancy" and "breastfeeding". Read 11 October 2026. FWC Unfair Dismissals Benchbook, Consultation obligations (9 December 2024): "an unlawful selection process may be relevant to a claim under the general protections provisions of the Fair Work Act or under state or federal anti-discrimination laws."
Redundancy before maternity leave starts
If your job ends before your leave starts, the unpaid parental leave goes with it: it is an entitlement of employees. The bigger risk is the Parental Leave Pay work test, which needs 330 hours in 295 days inside the 392 days before the birth, with no gap of more than 84 days between work days. Leave paid out when your job ends, including leave paid out on a redundancy, is not work for the test. So your last work day sets the clock.
Margot has worked full-time for 3 years. Her baby is due, and born, on Monday 5 July 2027, so her work test period runs from Monday 8 June 2026 to Sunday 4 July 2027. Her role is made redundant and her last day is Friday 26 February 2027. Her annual leave is paid out.
- Her run of work days inside the period is 8 June 2026 to 26 February 2027: 264 days, short of 295. With no more paid work, she fails.
- Had her last day been Monday 29 March 2027 (the birth date minus 98 days) or later, the run alone would have passed.
- The rescue: any day with at least an hour of paid work by Saturday 22 May 2027, her last day plus 85 days. She does one paid shift for a new employer on Monday 17 May 2027, a gap of 79 days. The run now covers 8 June 2026 to 17 May 2027, 344 days with far more than 330 hours: she passes.
If she was chosen because she was pregnant, the adverse action and challenge rules below apply even though her leave had not started.
Services Australia, Activities that count as work (1 April 2026): not work includes "leave entitlements that are paid out, such as lump sums of annual or long service leave entitlements. This also includes leave paid out from a redundancy." Services Australia, Work requirements (1 April 2026): "We count 10 months as 295 days and 13 months as 392 days." DSS, Paid Parental Leave Guide 1.1.P.130 (last reviewed 20 March 2025): a break is permissible if there were "no more than 84 consecutive days (equivalent to 12 weeks) between those 2 days." Retrieved 6 October 2026. Margot's dates are our calculation; check your own in the work test calculator.
How to calculate redundancy pay while on maternity leave
Redundancy pay under the National Employment Standards needs at least one year of continuous service, a national system employer and an employer with at least 15 employees. The number of weeks depends on your length of service, and unpaid leave is not service. The Fair Work Ombudsman's own example, Bronte, has her unpaid year left out of her redundancy pay but counted in full for notice. So to calculate redundancy pay whilst on maternity leave:
- Count your employment from your start date to the termination date.
- Take out the days of unpaid parental leave.
- Find the band for what is left in the NES table, and multiply the weeks by your base weekly pay.
Thea, 36, has worked full-time since Monday 2 January 2017 for an employer with more than 15 employees, at a base rate of $1,650 a week ($43.42 an hour on 38 hours). Her baby is born on Tuesday 1 September 2026 and her unpaid parental leave starts on Monday 7 September 2026. She is consulted on Monday 1 February 2027 and given written notice on Monday 15 February 2027.
| Item | Service counted | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Notice | 10 years 1 month on the day notice is given, unpaid leave included | 4 weeks: her termination day is Monday 15 March 2027 |
| Redundancy pay | 2 January 2017 to 15 March 2027 is 3,725 days, less 190 days of unpaid leave: 3,535 days, about 9 years 8 months | "At least 9 years but less than 10 years": 16 weeks = $26,400 |
| If the leave had counted | About 10 years 2 months | "At least 10 years": 12 weeks = $19,800 |
Because the NES scale drops from 16 weeks to 12 at 10 years, leaving her unpaid leave out puts Thea $6,600 ahead. Awards and agreements can give more than the NES.
The same effect for other lengths of service, using the verified NES bands:
| Total employment | Unpaid parental leave | Redundancy service | NES weeks | If the leave counted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 years 3 months | 6 months | 9 years 9 months | 16 | 12 |
| 10 years 9 months | 12 months | 9 years 9 months | 16 | 12 |
| 11 years 6 months | 12 months | 10 years 6 months | 12 | 12 |
Fair Work Ombudsman, Redundancy pay (28 September 2026): an employee gets redundancy pay if "they've at least one year of continuous service with their employer; they're covered under the national workplace relations system, and their employer employs at least 15 people." Fair Work Ombudsman, Unpaid leave (23 October 2025): approved NES unpaid leave counts for "notice of termination or payment in lieu of notice"; in the Bronte example, for redundancy pay "her employer doesn't count the year that Bronte was on unpaid leave". Fair Work Act 2009 s 22(2)(b): "any period of unpaid leave or unpaid authorised absence" does not count as service. s 119(2): "At least 9 years but less than 10 years: 16 weeks"; "At least 10 years: 12 weeks". Retrieved 6 and 7 October 2026. Thea's figures are our calculation.
Enter your service with the unpaid leave taken out in the redundancy pay calculator, and your full service in the notice period calculator.
Notice and pay in lieu while on leave
For notice, the whole period of employment counts, including unpaid parental leave. The NES minimum is 1 week for up to 1 year of service, 2 weeks for up to 3 years, 3 weeks for up to 5 years and 4 weeks for more than 5 years, plus 1 week if you are over 45 with at least 2 years of service.
The Fair Work Ombudsman describes two ways an employer can handle notice during parental leave:
- Notice served during the leave: the notice period starts and ends while you are on parental leave, as in Thea's case.
- Pay in lieu: employment ends immediately and you are paid for the notice period instead. In the Ombudsman's words, an employee entitled to 3 weeks' notice gets 3 weeks' pay. For Thea that would be 4 weeks' pay.
Fair Work Ombudsman, Ending employment during parental leave (23 October 2025): the notice period "starts and ends during the parental leave", or the employer can "terminate ... immediately and make a payment in lieu ... an employee who is entitled to 3 weeks' notice will get 3 weeks' pay instead." Read 11 October 2026. Fair Work Act 2009 s 117(3): notice of 1 to 4 weeks by service, and "increase the period by 1 week if the employee is over 45 years old and has completed at least 2 years of continuous service". Retrieved 7 October 2026.
Leave balances and the tax-free limit
Unused annual leave is paid out when employment ends, including leave loading if you would get it when taking leave. It does not grow during unpaid parental leave, so the balance is usually what you had when the leave began. Thea had 114 hours banked: 114 x $43.42 = $4,950.00, plus $866.25 if her award pays a 17.5% loading. Accrual during the different kinds of leave is covered in accruing annual leave on maternity leave.
A genuine redundancy payment is tax-free up to $13,598 plus $6,801 for each completed year of service in 2026-27. For this limit, "years of service" means whole years in the period of employment. Our reading is that unpaid parental leave sits inside that period, unlike the NES count, but the ATO does not say so directly. For Thea it makes no difference: the limit is $81,608 on 10 years or $74,807 on 9, and her $26,400 is tax-free either way. The rest of the tax treatment is in redundancy tax.
Fair Work Ombudsman, Final pay (28 September 2026): "An employee's unused annual leave gets paid out when their employment ends." "This includes annual leave loading if the employee gets it when they take annual leave." Fair Work Ombudsman, Accruing and taking other leave during parental leave (read 11 October 2026): "Employees don't usually build up (or accrue) paid leave while they're on unpaid parental leave." ATO, Employment termination payments (17 April 2026): tax-free part of genuine redundancy payments for 2026-27 "$13,598 | $6,801". Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 s 83-170(3): "years of service means the number of whole years in the period, or sum of periods, of employment to which the payment relates." Retrieved 9 September, 5 October and 7 October 2026.
What happens to your Parental Leave Pay
Losing your job does not end Parental Leave Pay. The eligibility list (caring for the child, the income test, the work test, the residence rules and registering the birth) has no employment condition. What changes is who pays it.
- If Services Australia was already paying you, nothing changes.
- If your employer was paying it, Services Australia pays you if you do not have a job, and pays any days your employer did not pay. An employer only provides Parental Leave Pay for a block, and cannot pay it in one lump sum, so the remaining days are not added to your final pay.
- Tax: an employer withholds at the usual PAYG rate; Services Australia withholds 15% unless you ask for a different rate.
All of Thea's days ended on Friday 5 February 2027, before her termination day, so her pay was unaffected. Had her employment ended on Tuesday 15 December 2026 while her employer was paying her, the 38 weekdays from Wednesday 16 December 2026 to Friday 5 February 2027 (38 x $200.94 = $7,635.72 before tax) would have been paid by Services Australia instead.
Services Australia, Parental Leave Pay (10 September 2026): eligibility requires caring for the child, the income test, the work test, the residence rules and registering the birth. Services Australia, Getting your Parental Leave Pay: "We'll pay you if any of the following apply: you don't have a job; your employer doesn't pay your Parental Leave Pay; you're self-employed..." "We'll pay any Parental Leave Pay days not paid by your employer." "If we pay your Parental Leave Pay, we'll withhold PAYG tax at the rate of 15%, unless you ask for a different rate." Employer: "they'll withhold pay as you go tax (PAYG) at the usual rate". Services Australia, Providing Parental Leave Pay as an employer: "We'll only ever ask you to provide the funds if your employee is taking a block of Parental Leave Pay." "you can't provide payments in one lump sum". Read 11 October 2026. Rate $200.94 a day for 2026-27 (Services Australia, 1 July 2026).
If you think it was because of your leave
There are four ways to challenge a dismissal: an unfair dismissal application, a general protections claim, an unlawful termination claim, or a claim under state or federal anti-discrimination law. An unfair dismissal application must be made within 21 days after the dismissal took effect, unless the Fair Work Commission allows more time. Count from your termination day, not the day you were told: for Thea that is 21 days after Monday 15 March 2027. The other routes have their own time limits, so get advice early rather than waiting until your leave ends.
Fair Work Ombudsman, Long periods of sick leave (10 August 2026), listing the ways to challenge a dismissal: "an unfair dismissal application ...; a general protections claim ...; an unlawful termination claim; a claim under a state or federal anti-discrimination law." Fair Work Act 2009 s 394(2): "(a) within 21 days after the dismissal took effect; or (b) within such further period as the FWC allows". Retrieved 7 October 2026.
Redundancy while on maternity leave: questions
Can you be made redundant while on maternity leave in Australia?
Yes, if your job is genuinely no longer needed by anyone, you were consulted while away, and your leave or pregnancy was not the reason.
What happens if I lose my job while on maternity leave?
You get notice or pay in lieu (counting your leave), redundancy pay if eligible (not counting unpaid leave), and your unused annual leave. Parental Leave Pay continues, paid by Services Australia if your employer was paying it.
What happens if I'm made redundant right before maternity leave?
You lose the unpaid parental leave with the job. Check the Parental Leave Pay work test: paid-out leave is not work, so you may need an hour of paid work before your gap passes 84 days.
How do I calculate redundancy pay while on maternity leave?
Take the unpaid leave out of your service, find the band in the NES table and multiply the weeks by your base weekly pay. The redundancy pay calculator does the last step.
Can my employer give my job to the person covering me?
No. You are entitled to your pre-leave job even if a replacement is working in it, and a job still being done is not redundant.
Do I have to be consulted while I'm on leave?
Yes. Your employer must give you information and a chance to discuss the change as the decision is made, not when you return.
Can I be picked for redundancy because I'm on leave or pregnant?
No. Abolishing a role because of your parental leave absence is a prohibited reason under s 772, and adverse action because of pregnancy is unlawful under s 351.
How long do I have to challenge it?
21 days after the dismissal takes effect for an unfair dismissal application. Other claims have their own deadlines.
Can I ask for voluntary redundancy while on maternity leave?
You can ask, and the employer decides. How offers work is in voluntary redundancy.
Can I resign while on maternity leave?
Yes, and you can use your parental leave as the notice period. See if you decide not to go back.
Author & reviewer
Sarah has spent over a decade advising Australian SMBs on Fair Work, NES compliance, and payroll. Based in Sydney, she has worked across hospitality, retail and professional services.