Pregnant at work in New Zealand: telling your employer, appointments and your rights

When you have to tell your employer, and when you might choose to

The only deadline is the parental leave notice. Under section 31 of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987, you give your employer written notice at least three months before the expected date of delivery, saying when you want your leave to start and how long it will be, with a certificate from your doctor or midwife confirming the pregnancy and the due date. Employment New Zealand says your employer then has 7 days to ask for anything more, and 21 days, once it has what it needs, to reply in writing. A partner taking partner's leave or sharing the leave writes by the same date.

Before that, there is nothing you must say, at work or in a job interview. The Human Rights Act 1993 makes it unlawful for an employer to ask an applicant anything that suggests it intends to discriminate, so a question about plans for a family is one you do not have to answer.

Telling earlier is your call, and there are reasons either way:

• Reasons to tell sooner: special leave for appointments, changes to unsafe tasks and an early start to leave all depend on your employer knowing. It is also easier to show you were treated worse because of a pregnancy when your employer knew about it.
• Reasons to wait: the early weeks are private, and some people would rather get past a pay review, a promotion round or the first scans before they say anything.

Whenever you tell, follow it with an email, so there is a dated record. Your Career can help with the dates: add your expected due date under Life events and it shows the date your written notice is due and which parental leave your start date gives you, with the due date kept on your own device.

Time off for appointments, and sick leave

Section 15 gives a pregnant employee up to 10 days' special leave without pay, before primary carer leave, for reasons connected with the pregnancy. Employment New Zealand's examples are antenatal classes, scans and midwife appointments. The days do not come off your parental leave. Some employment agreements pay for this time, so check yours.

The special leave is for the person who is pregnant. A partner who wants to be at scans has no matching right: Employment New Zealand says employers do not have to give time off for routine appointments unless the agreement says so, so it comes down to annual leave, flexible hours or what the employer agrees.

If you are unwell, sick leave applies as it would for any illness. After six months with the same employer you are entitled to 10 days' paid sick leave a year, and unused days carry over to a maximum of 20. Your employer can ask for proof that you are sick.

Protection from discrimination and dismissal

Under section 21 of the Human Rights Act, discrimination on the ground of sex includes pregnancy and childbirth. Section 22 makes it unlawful, because of your pregnancy, to refuse you a job you are qualified for, to give you worse terms, training or promotion chances, to dismiss you, or to subject you to any other detriment. The Act covers job ads, application forms, interviews and offers, not only people already in the job.

The Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act adds its own rule. Section 49 says no employer may end your employment because of your pregnancy, your health during the pregnancy, or because you have said you want parental leave.

A restructure is where these rules are tested. Section 54 still lets an employer dismiss for a substantial reason that has nothing to do with the pregnancy, so a genuine redundancy can happen while you are pregnant. What the employer cannot do is choose you because you are pregnant or about to take leave. If your role goes while you are on parental leave, Employment New Zealand says your employer must be able to show the redundancy arose after it agreed to your leave and said your job would be kept open, and that it has no similar role to give you.

If something goes wrong, raise it with your employer first, in writing. Employment New Zealand lists mediation, a personal grievance and a complaint to the Human Rights Commission as the next steps. A parental leave complaint under the Act has its own deadline: no later than 26 weeks after the matter arose, 26 weeks after the due date, or 8 weeks after your leave ends, whichever is later. Employment New Zealand on 0800 20 90 20 can explain which route fits.

Safety, lighter duties and starting leave early

Some work may need to change while you are pregnant, and your doctor or midwife can advise on what is safe for you. If, because of your pregnancy, you cannot do your work safely or adequately, section 16 lets your employer move you to another job for a while. If there is no other suitable work, section 14 lets it direct you to start primary carer leave early. These powers are for genuine safety reasons, and using either without reasonable justification is grounds for a parental leave complaint.

You can also start early yourself. Employment New Zealand says primary carer leave can begin up to 6 weeks before the due date, and you can ask to use annual leave first. If your doctor or midwife certifies that you should stop sooner, section 13 starts your leave on the date they give. If leave has to start more than 6 weeks early, for that reason, a premature birth or your employer's direction, you still get at least 20 weeks of primary carer leave after the birth.

Short of stopping work, you can ask for changes to your hours, days or place of work. Our guide to making a flexible working request sets out how to put it in writing.

The leave and the money are separate. After six months with the same employer at an average of 10 hours a week, parental leave is usually 26 weeks of primary carer leave, and after twelve months up to 52 weeks in all. Paid parental leave comes from Inland Revenue for up to 26 weeks, at a maximum of $811.05 a week before tax from 1 July 2026. Our paid parental leave calculator works out your weekly payment and dates, and our guide to parental leave in New Zealand covers the leave itself.

If a pregnancy ends: bereavement leave for both parents

Miscarriage and stillbirth are bereavements under employment law. Employment New Zealand says you are entitled to at least 3 days' paid bereavement leave if you have a miscarriage or stillbirth, and so is your partner. A former partner who would have been a biological parent, and someone who had agreed to be the child's primary carer, or their partner, are covered too. As with all bereavement leave, it applies once you have been with the employer for six months or meet the hours test, and the days do not have to be taken at once or in a row.

If you were eligible for primary carer leave and your baby dies before or after the birth, you are still entitled to 26 weeks of parental leave, so you have time for your own health and recovery. Employment New Zealand has a template letter for telling an employer, which can make that conversation easier. Your doctor or midwife can help with support beyond work.

The dates worked out, the days kept