Labor to change law after mother's paid parental leave was cancelled when baby died
For six weeks, tiny Priya fought for her life in the neonatal intensive care unit in a Sydney hospital.
It was June 3, 2024 when — at not even 25 weeks — she arrived in the world nearly three months early — and left unbearably soon.
Despite her premature birth, she had been surprising doctors with how strong she was.
But on day 42, little Priya ran out of fight.
"One dreaded Sunday, we were just shocked when she was unwell and she passed away," her mother said through tears.
"It was the worst day of our lives.
"I've never felt such pain, you just feel like screaming … it's almost like a primal feeling."
Five days into grappling with her daughter's death, Priya's mother — who asked not to be named — says she called her employer of 11 years to tell them of her loss.
Flowers, teddy bears and condolences from colleagues arrived, but after a text exchange with her employer that lasted another five days, she received a message she found both shocking and distressing.
It was her workplace notifying her that her three months of pre-approved paid parental leave (PPL) had been cancelled.
Instead, her employer offered four weeks of personal leave — not even enough to cover Priya's time alive.
Up until then, she had been using a mix of annual and long service leave, so never received a day of the three months of approved PPL through her employer. The government paid leave, however, did remain.
Already, she was so overcome with grief she would wake up in the middle of the night crying and now she had a new problem on her hands.
"They just escalated my grief and trauma even more than needed to be," she said.
She had already begun to needlessly question her motherhood and her employer's decision just compounded that.
"I was thinking maybe I really must not be a mother — even my workplace is saying that," she said.
After building a career in employment services, helping other people find work, she was now having to do the same, having quit after feeling such disrespect from her workplace towards her and her baby.
Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Amanda Rishworth calls it a "gap" that needs to be fixed.
"No parent should have their employer paid parental leave cancelled in the event of a stillbirth or an early death of a child," she said.
Spurred by the advocacy of Priya's parents, the federal government has committed to making the legislative change "swiftly," but has not put a timeline on it.
Minister Rishworth said the law firstly needed to be drafted, then consulted on with employers, unions and Priya's parents.
She said most employers continued to guarantee the leave in the circumstance of a stillbirth or early death of a child, but the government wanted to make sure "there is no grey area".
"For those that it does affect, it is profound," she said.
The government said the change would align the private sector with the Commonwealth scheme so employees are still entitled to the leave if their child is stillborn or if the baby dies while the employee is on PPL, or during a period in which they could have accessed it.
In the year since Priya's passing, more than 31,000 people have signed an online petition to support the cause.
On Friday, Priya's mum and dad met Minister Rishworth in Adelaide to show her the signatures.
"In the name of Priya, other grieving parents will not need to go through the same pain that I did," her mother said.
"I'm feeling so grateful to my daughter Priya … she's given me strength."
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