Yes, a person may be eligible for carer's leave (as distinct from parental leave), if they are providing care to a mum following childbirth, or to a newborn baby, where unexpected health issues have arisen. If a doctor is providing a carer's certificate, they will usually need to ask some questions about the specific circumstances. To find out how to book an online doctor consultation for a carer's certificate with Qoctor, click here.

In the postnatal period, unexpected health issues may arise that require additional care and support, including physical or mental health complications in the mother (for example, infection or postnatal depression), or an unexpected illness affecting a newborn baby. Similarly, compassionate leave may be appropriate in situations where life-threatening illness has occurred. 

In Australia, as per www.fairwork.gov.au , carer's leave (also known as personal leave or personal / carer's leave) allows an employee take time off to help them deal with caring responsibilities and family emergencies of this nature.

"An employee may have to take time off to care for an immediate family or household member who is sick or injured or help during a family emergency. This is known as carer's leave but it comes out of the employee's personal leave balance". 

An immediate family member is a:

• spouse or former spouse
• de facto partner or former de facto partner
• child
• parent
• grandparent
• grandchild
• sibling, or
• child, parent, grandparent, grandchild or sibling of the employee's spouse or de facto partner (or former spouse or de facto partner).

 This definition includes step-relations (for example, step-parents and step-children) as well as adoptive relations.

A household member is any person who lives with the employee.

Sick and carer's leave comes under the same leave entitlement (also known as personal / carer's leave).

The yearly entitlement is based on an employee’s ordinary hours of work and is 10 days for full-time employees, and pro-rata for part-time employees. This can be calculated as 1/26 of an employee’s ordinary hours of work in a year.

Full-time and part-time employees accumulate sick and carer's leave during each year of employment. It starts accumulating from an employee's first day of work and is based on their ordinary hours of work.

The balance at the end of each year carries over to the next year.

Further Resources:

https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/sick-and-carers-leave

https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/maternity-and-parental-leave

https://www.fairwork.gov.au/leave/compassionate-and-bereavement-leave

Find out how to book a carer's certificate consultation with Qoctor HERE