Parental Leave and PRSI credits

NeVeR

Hi,

I've just had a son and I need to take a few months off work. He was born with OI ( brittle bones ) and has broken his leg already. He's very weak.

I need time off to look after him and figure some things out.

I was reading my companies policy on Parental leave and PRSI credits.. meaning I don't get paid.. and can't claim social welfare.. but I can get some money with PRSI credits.

What does this mean ? .. How much can I get ?

I'm 32 now and since i've been 18 I been working and paying tax etc.. there was a period of 5 weeks that I had to claim social welfare.

I'm in my current job just over 6 years.

How can I calculate how much I'd get if I did go on parental leave ?


thanks

Neyite

Can you apply for carer's benefit? As far as I know, parental leave is unpaid, but maybe some companies pay it as a benefit.

Diamond Doll

I would imagine that you'd receive unused credits in the form of a tax refund with your first salary payment on your return to work i.e. you wouldn't be receiving any payment between now and your return to work (but would get a bit of a lump sum then.)

Would working part-time hours and taking the remaining time as parental leave be an option? This would be at your companies discretion - to allow you take it in this way rather than in a block. However given his medical condition, hopefully they'd be sympathetic.

As far as I'm aware, to qualify for any carer's allowance, you'd have to hand in your notice altogether. However say if your company were to allow you to take a career break for X amount of months, it's possible you could qualify for it for that period? I'm really not sure though, it may be worth asking about it in the state benefits forum.

Congrats on your son by the way, did you know about the condition before he was born? I hope the leg heals soon! It might be worth looking into online support groups for other parents in your position, if you haven't done so already.

NeVeR

thanks for the replies.

Yes we new before he was born. His mother has the same condition.

I didn't know the credits meant that.. I thought i'd get a small amount from social welfare if I needed to leave work for a while.

My job have been brilliant. They have given me loads of time off and also are allowing me work from home... but things are still very hard. There are other issues at hand as well which is making it very hard for me to work from home and look after my son.

I didn't want to leave my job as I love it and it pays really well... but there appears to be no other option.

thanks.

Moonbeam

Does your wife work?
If she is on low wages you could enquire about FIS.

There is the home carers tax credit ,if she doesn't work .

Unfortunately there are no social welfare entitlements for parental leave.

sillysocks

I didnt want to hijack the other parental leave threads so started a new one....

I have two young children and took some parental leave (one day per week) in my previous job. I don't have a list anywhere of exactly what days I took, and the company I worked for has closed down so can't contact them. To apply for parental leave with my current employer they ask how much parental leave I've taken with other companies. I'm wondering whether there is any 'register' maybe with social welfare/revenue if I had received credits for the days I've taken - although perhaps because I only took it one day a week the credits thing isn't valid because I would have received credits anyway the same week.