Section 25B of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act provides that an employee who adopts a child under the age of two is entitled to either:
Domestic workers are also entitled to claim UIF benefits for the period of adoption leave (click to see Chapter 7 below).
Click to download copies of the relevant UIF forms necessary to adoption leave benefits from the UIF
The determination as to which of the above options is applicable (i.e. parental leave or adoption leave) depends on the number of adoptive parents.
Where the domestic worker is the sole adoptive parent, then he/she will be entitled to ten consecutive weeks of adoption leave.
Where the employee is one of two adoptive parents, then the employee and the other adoptive parent can determine which parent will take adoption leave (ten weeks) and which parent will take parental leave (10 days).
Adoption leave shall commence on the date that the adoption order is granted or the date on which a competent Court places the child in the care of the domestic worker pending the finalisation of an adoption order. Domestic Workers are required to give their employers one month notice of the date on which they intend to commence adoptive leave and the anticipated date of return (where reasonably practicable). Employers are entitled to reasonable proof of the birth / adoption of a child. The above aspects should be dealt with in the contract of employment
(see the draft contracts available with this manual).
