Family rights

A pregnant employee is entitled to time off (with pay) to attend ante-natal appointments.

Such appointments may include more than just medical appointments.

This right came into effect on 1 April 2025. It allows an employee who has a 'qualifying relationship' with a pregnant woman to take time off (without pay) to attend ante-natal appointments with the pregnant employee.

Qualifying relationships include:

• The pregnant woman’s husband, wife or civil partner
  
  
• A person who lives with the pregnant woman in an enduring family relationship but is not a relative
  
  
• The father of the expected child
  
  
• A relative of the pregnant woman (for example the woman’s child, parent, grandparent, sister, brother, aunt or uncle); or
  
  
• The pregnant woman’s birth partner

The time off is limited to two appointments with each appointment capped at 6.5 hours.

The following is a brief summary of maternity leave. For more detailed guidance, please see the guide below. Maternity leave can be broken down into three types.

Compulsory leave

A pregnant employee is required to take two weeks compulsory maternity leave following the birth of the child and an employer must not permit any work during this period.

Ordinary Maternity Leave ('OML')

An employee may take up to 26 weeks leave (which does not have to be paid) subject to meeting the following conditions:

• By the 15th week before her expected week of childbirth, the employee must notify the employer:
  
  
• She is pregnant
  
  
• Her expected week of childbirth; and
  
  
• When she wants her leave to start
  
  
• If requested, the employee must provide a certificate from a doctor or midwife confirming the pregnancy

OML may start at any point during the 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth.

During OML, the employee’s contract of employment continues, including all terms, except pay (unless paid OML is provided for by the employer).

If an employee wishes to return early from OML, she must give her employer at least 28 days’ notice.

Additional Maternity Leave ('AML')

If an employee is entitled to OML and, at the beginning of the 14th week before her expected week of childbirth, has been continuously employed for at least 26 weeks, then she would be eligible to take Additional Maternity Leave (AML).

During AML the contract of employment continues on a limited basis and annual leave is only accrued at the statutory rate than the contractual rate.

If an employee wishes to return early from AML, she must give her employer at least 28 days’ notice.

Specific rules apply where an employee resigns while on maternity leave, particularly in relation to their rights during the notice period. For guidance on these situations, please contact MIRS.

An employee is entitled to take up to two weeks’ paternity leave (without pay) following the birth of a child. This leave cannot be split, the employee must take either one week or two consecutive weeks.

To be eligible, the employee must:

• Have, or expect to have, responsibility for the child's upbringing; and
  
  
• Be the biological father of the child, or the mother's husband or partner (including a same-sex partner); and
  
  
• Have worked continuously for the employer for 26 weeks by the 15th week before the expected week of birth

Paternity leave must be taken within 56 days of the birth, or if the child is born early, within 56 days of the expected week of birth.

The employee must notify their employer of the intention to take paternity leave by the 15th week before the expected week of birth.

If they change their intended dates, they must give 28 days’ notice to their employer.

An employee adopting a child on their own is entitled to paid time off to attend five adoption appointments.

Where two parents are adopting, one parent may elect to take paid time off to attend up to five adoption appointments, and the other parent has a right to unpaid time off to attend two adoption appointments.

Each appointment is capped at 6.5 hours.

Adoption leave is broken down into three elements:

• Ordinary Adoption Leave
• Additional Adoption Leave
• Paternity Leave (for adoption purposes)

These broadly mirror maternity and paternity leave. For more detailed guidance, please see the guide below.

This right is available only to employees with one year’s continuous service. It allows an employee to take up to 18 weeks’ parental leave (without pay) to care for a disabled child for whom they have responsibility.

The leave must be taken before the child’s 18th birthday. The employee must give at least 21 days’ notice, and no more than four weeks’ leave may be taken in any one year.

An employer may postpone parental leave for up to six months on business grounds.

For more detailed information, please see the Department for Enterprise guide below.

Shared Parental Leave ('SPL') came into effect in the Isle of Man from 1 November 2025.

SPL is an optional arrangement; eligible employees may choose whether or not to use it.

A mother/adopter can take up to 52 weeks of maternity leave/adoption leave once a child is born or placed. It is up to the parent as to how much leave they wish to take but there is a compulsory 2 weeks that must be taken by law by the mother/adopter following birth/placement.

SPL is a separate type of leave, it is not additional to maternity/adoption leave. It is a different leave that an eligible employee can switch to use any remainder of the 50 weeks that they have not used of their maternity or adoption leave entitlement.

For instance, if a woman has given birth, has taken the 2 compulsory weeks under maternity leave and then a further 20 weeks of maternity leave, she could end her maternity leave (curtail it) and then opt into SPL and use the remaining 30 weeks as SPL. She then cannot switch back into maternity leave.

Important: Only employees who meet the eligibility requirements are entitled to SPL.

SPL provides a right to leave, not pay, although employers may offer enhanced terms.

Unlike maternity or adoption leave, SPL may be taken in separate blocks, provided the employee gives eight weeks’ notice for each period. Employees are limited to three booking notices, which may request continuous leave (which must be granted) or discontinuous leave (which can be discussed).

Eligibility requirements

The employee must:

• Satisfy the 'Continuity of employment test'
  
  
• Be continuously employed for 26 weeks up to and including the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth (or matching of adoption)
  
  
• Still be employed in the week before SPL begins
  
  
• Share the main responsibility for the child at birth/placement

The partner must:

• Satisfy the 'Employment and earnings test'
  
  
• Be employed or self-employed for a total of 26 weeks (does not need to be continuous) in period of 66 weeks leading up to birth/match and
  
  
• Have earned an average of £30 a week in 13 of those 26 weeks

For more detailed guidance, please the below guides.

From 1 April 2025, employees are entitled to take unpaid time off to deal with an emergency involving a dependant.

The time off must be 'reasonable' although the Act does not define this and each case will depend on the circumstances.

Time off may only be taken for the following reasons involving a dependant:

• Illness, injury or assault
  
  
• Childbirth
  
  
• Disruption of care arrangements
  
  
• A child being involved in an incident during school hours

Dependants include a spouse or civil partner, child or grandchild, parent or grandparent, or someone living in the same household (not a tenant or lodger) and any person who reasonably relies on the employee for assistance.

For more detailed guidance, please see the Department for Enterprise guide below.

You and your partner may be able to take time off work if:

• Your child dies before the age of 18
  
  
• You experience a stillbirth after 24 weeks of pregnancy; or
  
  
• You have a miscarriage up to 24 weeks of pregnancy

Employers are not required to pay for this leave. However, the Isle of Man Government provides a parental bereavement allowance.

Eligible relationships with the child include:

• Parent
  
  
• An adoptive parent
  
  
• A biological parent whose child has been adopted and who has a contact order
  
  
• A parent whose child was born through a surrogate arrangement

For more detailed guidance, please see the Department for Enterprise guide below.