1.1.K.10 Keeping in touch day

Definition

For the purposes of PLP, a keeping in touch day is a day that would otherwise be a day of leave in a period of leave granted by an employer, where the person performs paid work for the employer. This applies to people who are employees of an employer while they are on leave granted by that employer, including defence force members and law enforcement officers.

A day of paid work is a keeping in touch day if the purpose of performing the paid work is to enable the employee to keep in touch with his or her employment or engagement in order to facilitate a return to that employment or engagement after the period of leave. Activities such as training days, planning days and refreshing skills would meet this requirement.

Additionally, both the employee and the employer must have consented freely to the employee performing work for the employer on that day. The day must not be within 14 days after the day the child was born or adopted, if the employee has asked to perform work for the employer on that day. The day must not be within 42 days after the date of birth or adoption of the child if the keeping in touch day is requested by the employer.

The employee can perform paid work for the purpose of keeping in touch for a maximum of 10 days. One hour or more of paid work on a day for the purposes of keeping in touch, counts as one day towards the 10 day limit from the time that the person became the child's primary carer until the earlier of:

• they day that they return to work for the first time after the child's birth or adoption, or
• the end of their flexible PPL period.

A person who participates in paid work before the end of their PPL period for a purpose other than keeping in touch, will no longer be eligible for the remainder of their PPL period. A person who participates in paid work on a flexible PPL day for a purpose other than keeping in touch will not be eligible for flexible PPL on that day. A person may not be required to meet the requirement not to return to work and may still be eligible for PLP with the following exceptions:

• have lost care of their child without their consent, or
• are a defence force member or a law enforcement officer and they have been compulsorily recalled to duty, or
• returned to work in response to a state, territory or national emergency and they are a health professional, emergency service worker or other essential worker (1.1.E.95).

If an employee performs paid work for the purpose of keeping in touch while they are taking unpaid parental leave under the National Employment Standards:

• the keeping in touch day does not break the continuity of the period of unpaid parental leave, and
• performing that work does not have the effect of extending the period of unpaid parental leave.

The PPLAct does not provide any keeping in touch provisions for DAPP recipients who are employees.

A DAPP recipient who is self-employed may oversee their business and perform the occasional administrative task during their DAPP period without losing their eligibility.