Routine antenatal check-ups are not sick leave unless the visit or your pregnancy leaves you unfit for work. Pregnancy-related illness is sick leave. Your award, agreement or contract can give more.
Pregnancy brings a steady run of time away from work: check-ups, scans, tests, days of feeling too sick to work, and for some, complications. Each kind of absence fits a different entitlement, and the choice matters twice: once for your leave balances, and again for the Parental Leave Pay work test, where paid leave counts as work and unpaid time does not. This guide sorts each pregnancy absence into the right leave, covers partners, and shows the hours and dollars on a worked example.
Key takeaways
- Pre-arranged appointments are sick leave only if you are unfit for work. A check-up or scan you are well enough to work around is not.
- Pregnancy-related illness is sick leave, paid at your base rate for each hour or part hour you take.
- Your award, enterprise agreement or contract can be more generous than the National Employment Standards, never less.
- For routine visits, use annual leave, flexible hours or agreed unpaid time. Your employer must not unreasonably refuse annual leave.
- Paid leave keeps your Parental Leave Pay work test on track: a day with at least one hour of paid sick or annual leave counts as a work day.
Can you use sick leave for pregnancy appointments?
Only if you are not fit for work. The Fair Work Ombudsman's rule for any booked appointment is that it "can only be covered by sick leave if an employee is not able to work because of a personal illness or injury". Its pregnancy page adds: "Pregnancy is not an illness or injury." So a routine antenatal check-up, a booked scan or a glucose test you can work either side of is not, on its own, a reason for paid sick leave under the NES.
That is why advice online seems to conflict. Some pregnancy services tell readers they are entitled to use sick leave for antenatal visits; government human rights guides say it is not usually available. Both can be true for different people. The NES is the floor, and a registered agreement, award or contract can give more. If your workplace lets you use sick leave for antenatal appointments, that is lawful. If it does not, the NES gives you no right to insist.
Fair Work Ombudsman, Notice and medical certificates (content last updated 10 August 2026): "Medical appointments and elective surgeries that are pre-arranged can only be covered by sick leave if an employee is not able to work because of a personal illness or injury." Fair Work Ombudsman, Entitlements while pregnant (dated 2 September 2026; read 11 October 2026): "Pregnancy is not an illness or injury. If a pregnant employee experiences a pregnancy-related illness or injury, they can take sick leave or unpaid special parental leave." Fair Work Ombudsman, Paid sick and carer's leave (10 August 2026): "A registered agreement, award or contract can set out different entitlements to paid sick and carer's leave, but they can't be less than the minimum in the National Employment Standards." Retrieved 6 and 7 October 2026.
Which leave to use for each pregnancy absence
Match the absence to a row. The last column shows whether the time counts towards the Parental Leave Pay work test.
| Absence | Leave that fits | Counts for the PLP work test? |
|---|---|---|
| Routine check-up or scan, fit to work either side | Annual leave by agreement, flexible hours or unpaid time by agreement. Sick leave only if your award, agreement or contract allows it | Paid leave, yes. A day where you also worked at least an hour counts anyway |
| Unwell because of the pregnancy, such as severe nausea | Paid sick leave | Yes |
| Unfit for work after a test or procedure | Paid sick leave for the hours you are unfit | Yes |
| Pregnancy-related illness after your sick leave runs out | Unpaid special parental leave, if eligible | No, but pregnancy-related illness is a work test exception |
| The last 6 weeks before your due date, still working | Flexible unpaid parental leave days, if eligible. They come out of your 12 months | No (unpaid) |
| Your current job is unsafe because of the pregnancy | A safe job, or no safe job leave: see maternity leave in Australia | Paid no safe job leave, yes |
| Pregnancy loss after at least 12 weeks | Unpaid special parental leave if the baby is not stillborn: see miscarriage leave | No (unpaid) |
| Partner attending a routine visit | Annual leave or agreed time; carer's leave only to care for a pregnant partner who is unwell | Paid leave, yes |
Casual employees get no paid sick leave, so for a casual the sick leave rows become unpaid time off. General rules for doctor and dentist visits are in sick day reasons.
Fair Work Act 2009 s 88 (Compilation No. 73): "(1) Paid annual leave may be taken for a period agreed between an employee and his or her employer. (2) The employer must not unreasonably refuse to agree to a request by the employee to take paid annual leave." Fair Work Ombudsman, Paid sick and carer's leave (10 August 2026): "An employee can take paid sick leave when they can't work because of a personal illness or injury. This can include stress and pregnancy related illnesses." "All employees except casuals are entitled to paid sick and carer's leave." Fair Work Ombudsman, Types of parental leave (2 September 2026): "Any flexible parental leave taken is deducted from an employee's 12 month entitlement." Fair Work Ombudsman, Entitlements while pregnant (read 11 October 2026): no safe job leave is paid "at the employee's base pay rate" if the employee is entitled to unpaid parental leave, and unpaid otherwise. Retrieved 14 September and 6 October 2026.
Pregnancy-related illness and sick leave
Being unwell because of your pregnancy is a personal illness. The Fair Work Ombudsman lists pregnancy-related illness among the reasons for paid sick leave, and the test is the same as for any other illness: you are not fit for work. Your employer can ask for evidence, such as a medical certificate, even for a single day or less. Sick leave is paid at your base rate for each hour or part hour taken, so a morning lost to nausea uses those hours, not a full day.
When paid sick leave runs out, an eligible pregnant employee can take unpaid special parental leave for a pregnancy-related illness. It ends when the pregnancy ends or when you are fit to return, whichever is earlier, and it does not reduce your 12 months of unpaid parental leave. The same leave covers a pregnancy that ends after at least 12 weeks' gestation other than by a live birth, where the baby is not stillborn; that situation is covered in miscarriage leave.
Fair Work Ombudsman, Notice and medical certificates (10 August 2026): "Employers can ask employees to provide evidence for as little as 1 day or less off work." Fair Work Ombudsman, Payment for sick and carer's leave (10 August 2026): "Sick and carer's leave is paid at an employee's base pay rate for each hour or part of an hour of leave they take." Fair Work Ombudsman, Entitlements while pregnant (read 11 October 2026): special parental leave ends "when the pregnancy ends, or the employee is fit to return", whichever is earlier, and "doesn't reduce the amount of unpaid parental leave". Fair Work Act 2009 s 80(1) (read 11 October 2026): (a) pregnancy-related illness; (b)(ii) "the pregnancy ends after a period of gestation of at least 12 weeks otherwise than by the birth of a living child", and (b)(iii) the baby is not stillborn.
Can partners use sick leave for antenatal appointments?
Not for a routine visit. Paid personal/carer's leave covers your own illness, or caring for an immediate family or household member who needs care or support because of an illness or injury. Going with your partner to a scan you are both well for fits neither, so use annual leave or agreed time. If your pregnant partner is unwell and needs your care, that is carer's leave, taken from your personal/carer's balance. A casual partner has no paid carer's leave but is entitled to 2 days of unpaid carer's leave. Partners' leave around the birth itself is in paternity leave.
Fair Work Act 2009 s 97 (Compilation No. 73): paid personal/carer's leave "(a) because the employee is not fit for work because of a personal illness, or personal injury, affecting the employee; or (b) to provide care or support to a member of the employee's immediate family, or a member of the employee's household, who requires care or support because of: (i) a personal illness, or personal injury, affecting the member". Fair Work Ombudsman, Unpaid carer's leave (23 October 2025): "All employees, including casual employees, are entitled to 2 days unpaid carer's leave." Retrieved 14 September and 6 October 2026.
Sick leave in the weeks before parental leave
If you are unfit for work in late pregnancy, sick leave covers those days up to the start of your parental leave. If you are fit, three other options apply:
- Start unpaid parental leave early: a pregnant employee can start it up to 6 weeks before the expected date of birth, or earlier if agreed.
- Take single flexible days: if you are still working in the last 6 weeks, you can take flexible unpaid parental leave as single days or longer periods. Every day comes out of your 12 months. See flexible parental leave.
- Use annual leave: it can be taken before parental leave, or at the same time as unpaid parental leave.
Fair Work Ombudsman, Parental leave and related entitlements (11 May 2026): "For a pregnant employee, leave can start up to 6 weeks before the expected date of birth (or earlier if agreed)". "Employees can take paid leave such as annual leave at the same time as unpaid parental leave." Fair Work Ombudsman, Types of parental leave (2 September 2026): "If a pregnant employee is working in the 6 weeks before the expected birth of the child, they can start taking flexible parental leave during this time." Flexible leave "can be taken as: a single continuous period of one day or longer; separate periods of one day or longer each." Retrieved 6 October 2026.
How your choice affects Parental Leave Pay
To get Parental Leave Pay you need at least 330 hours of work in 10 of the 13 months before the birth, with no gap of more than 84 days (12 weeks) between work days. Paid leave counts as work: a day with at least one hour of paid sick, annual or maternity leave is a work day. Unpaid days are not, but a short run of them is only a gap, and gaps of up to 84 days are allowed.
So the leave you choose for pregnancy absences rarely decides the test, but it can for someone with a long stretch off. Covering absences with paid leave keeps every day a work day. If you are off unpaid for a long time because of complications, pregnancy-related illness and complications are an exception to the work test, with documents to prove it. Check your dates in the Paid Parental Leave work test calculator.
Services Australia, Activities that count as work (1 April 2026): "Work is either: paid work on a day when you have worked for at least one hour; paid leave, such as sick leave, annual leave and paid maternity leave." DSS, Paid Parental Leave Guide 1.1.Q.20 Qualifying work (last reviewed 11 May 2026): "A person performs qualifying work on a day if the person either performs at least one hour of paid work ... on a day, or the person takes a period of paid leave of at least one hour on a day." DSS, 1.1.P.130 Permissible break (last reviewed 20 March 2025): "no more than 84 consecutive days (equivalent to 12 weeks) between those 2 days." Services Australia, Work requirements (1 April 2026). Services Australia, Exceptions to the work test (31 March 2026): "Exceptions to the work test include: pregnancy related illnesses and complications; premature birth; ..." "You'll need to provide documents to prove your situation." Retrieved 6 October 2026.
Worked examples
Mia works full-time, 38 hours a week, at an example base rate of $34.00 an hour. She has 8 routine antenatal appointments of 2 hours each and is fit to work either side of them (the number of visits is illustrative). That is 16 hours away from work.
| Option | Hours used | Pay for the time |
|---|---|---|
| Annual leave, agreed | 16 of her 152 hours a year | 16 x $34.00 = $544.00 |
| Sick leave | Only if her award, agreement or contract allows it. If it does: 16 of her 76 hours a year (21%) | $544.00 |
| Make up the time, by agreement | None | $544.00 earned as normal |
Mia is unfit for work Monday to Friday. That is 5 x 7.6 = 38 hours of sick leave, paid at 38 x $34.00 = $1,292.00. Her employer can ask for a medical certificate, even for one day. All five days count as work days for the Parental Leave Pay work test.
Later in the pregnancy Mia has complications, uses her remaining sick leave, then takes 3 weeks of unpaid special parental leave. Those 21 days are not work days, but a 21-day gap is well inside the 84-day limit, and her 12 months of unpaid parental leave is untouched.
Sam goes to the 20-week scan on annual leave. A month later Mia is unwell and needs care for a day, so Sam takes a day of paid carer's leave from his personal/carer's balance. If Sam were casual, he could take unpaid carer's leave instead.
The personal leave calculator shows your sick and carer's leave balance in hours, and the annual leave calculator does the same for annual leave.
Sick leave for pregnancy appointments: questions
Can I use sick leave for pregnancy appointments?
Only if you are unfit for work, or your award, agreement or contract allows it. A routine check-up you can work around is not sick leave under the NES.
How much time off work can I take for pregnancy appointments?
The NES sets no separate amount for routine antenatal visits. Use annual leave or agreed time for them, and sick leave for any time you are unfit for work.
Can you use sick leave for scheduled medical appointments?
Only if you are not able to work because of a personal illness or injury. Being booked in advance does not change the test.
Is morning sickness a valid reason for sick leave?
Yes, if it makes you unfit for work. Pregnancy-related illness is a reason for paid sick leave.
Can I take sick leave before maternity leave?
Yes, if you are unfit for work. If you are fit, unpaid parental leave can start up to 6 weeks before the expected birth, or earlier if agreed.
Can my partner use sick leave for antenatal appointments?
Not for a routine visit. Your partner can take carer's leave to care for you if you are unwell.
Does sick leave count for the Parental Leave Pay work test?
Yes. A day with at least one hour of paid sick leave counts as a work day.
What is no safe job leave?
Leave when it is unsafe to keep doing your job while pregnant and no safe job is available. It is paid at your base rate if you are entitled to unpaid parental leave. More in maternity leave in Australia.
Can my employer fire me after I tell them I'm pregnant?
No. An employee can't be discriminated against because they are pregnant, and the Fair Work Act bans adverse action because of pregnancy (s 351). If a job loss follows a pregnancy announcement, see redundancy while on maternity leave.
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.