Partner's leave in New Zealand: one or two weeks, and unpaid

The short version, and it is short

New Zealand gives partners up to two weeks of unpaid partner's leave. There is no partner's payment, no paternity pay and no government top-up. If you want paid time off as the non-birthing parent, the route is a transfer of the primary carer's paid parental leave, not a scheme of your own.

Some employers offer paid partner's leave through employment agreements or workplace policies. That is a private benefit, not a statutory one, so check your agreement rather than assuming.

One week or two: the service test

To take partner's leave at all, you must have been working for your employer for at least six months. How much you get depends on how long, and the clock is counted back from a specific date.

If you have worked for the same employer continuously for an average of at least 10 hours a week for:

• 6 months immediately before your partner's due date, or the day they take permanent primary care of a child under 6 — you can take 1 week of unpaid partner's leave
• 12 months immediately before that same date — you can take 2 weeks of unpaid partner's leave

Changing jobs during pregnancy therefore has a direct cost. A move at seven months' service can take you from two weeks to one, or out of eligibility altogether.

Who counts as a partner

The definition is broader than many people expect. A spouse or partner is someone of any gender in a relationship with the primary carer of a child under 6 years old, who is married, in a civil union or in a de facto relationship with them. They do not have to be the biological parent of the child.

Two exclusions apply. You cannot take partner's leave if you are the biological mother of the child and have transferred your parental leave payment entitlements to your spouse or partner. And you cannot take it if you are the partner or spouse of the child's biological mother and she has already transferred her parental leave payment to you — because in that case you are the one taking primary responsibility for the child's day-to-day care, and you take primary carer leave instead.

The 21-day window

Partner's leave has to be taken around the time the child comes into your care, and the timing rules are tighter than most people realise.

You can start your leave any time in the 21 days before the baby's due date, or the date your partner is due to take permanent primary care of a child under 6. The latest you can start is 21 days after the birth, or after your partner takes permanent primary care. If the baby is discharged from hospital more than 21 days after the birth, you can start your partner's leave on the day of discharge.

Outside those windows, you need your employer's agreement — and with agreement, you can start at any time. The leave ends one or two weeks after it starts, depending on your entitlement. You cannot bank it for later.

Transferring paid parental leave instead

If you want paid time at home, this is the mechanism. The primary carer may transfer some or all of their paid parental leave entitlement to their spouse or partner.

Three rules govern it, and all three bite.

First, entitlements can only be transferred once. Once you transfer, you cannot transfer back. Second, your spouse or partner must qualify in their own right: they must stop working, take primary responsibility for the child's day-to-day care, and meet the work requirements independently. Their eligibility is not inherited from yours. Third, only one person can receive paid parental leave payments at a time, so a transfer moves the payment across, it does not duplicate it.

You can request the transfer when you register for paid parental leave, or later through the online form in myIR. Your partner then gets an alert in myIR asking them to apply, or a letter if they are not registered.

Note the interaction: you cannot receive parental leave payments while you are on partner's leave. Partner's leave and transferred paid parental leave are alternatives, taken at different times, not a package.

How to claim

Partner's leave is requested from your employer, not from a government agency. Give notice in writing, in line with the parental leave notice requirements, and expect to confirm the due date or the date primary care began. Because it is unpaid, there is nothing to claim from Inland Revenue for the leave itself.

Transfers of paid parental leave go through Inland Revenue, either as part of the primary carer's registration or afterwards in myIR.

Plan the two entitlements against each other rather than in isolation. A common pattern is for the partner to take their one or two weeks of unpaid partner's leave around the birth itself, and for the couple to consider a transfer of paid parental leave later, when the primary carer wants to return to work and the baby still needs care at home. Because a transfer can only be made once and cannot be undone, that later decision deserves a proper conversation rather than a form filled in at the hospital.

Where to get help

Employment New Zealand publishes the statutory rules on partner's leave, including the eligibility table, and can help if an employer refuses leave you are entitled to. Inland Revenue handles registration, applications and transfers of paid parental leave. If your employment agreement offers paid partner's leave that your employer is not honouring, Employment New Zealand is also the right first call.