At Parents At Work, our mission is to help organisations become genuinely family‐inclusive workplaces not just through policies, but by embedding culture, compassion and practical support throughout every phase of family life. 

 

The recently introduced “Baby Priya’s Bill”, highlighted in The Saturday Paper article ‘ Baby Priya’s Bill set to reform leave laws for grieving parents,’ by Hannah Bambra marks a critical moment in this journey.

 

We’re reminded that when a baby is born very prematurely, as was baby Priya, who died after 42 days, the tragic outcome reverberates far beyond the immediate grief. In this case, ten days after Priya’s death, her mother received a text message cancelling her pre-approved parental leave. Her partner, a public-sector teacher, retained his leave entitlement because the government-paid scheme is protected for public employees, but in the private sector, that protection was missing.

 

As the article reports, this discrepancy highlights that Australia currently has a “patchwork of paid parental leave policies”. Not all employers offer paid parental leave, and they’re not required to by law, which leaves parents solely reliant on workplace discretion.

 

This is deeply unfair, and it’s not just about fairness; it’s about resilience.

 

When an employee experiences the most devastating of losses through stillbirth, neonatal death, or miscarriage, the ways workplaces respond are a litmus test of whether we are truly building sustainable, human-centred workplaces.

 

Reflecting on the case, it highlights the three key imperatives for employers:

 

1. Close the policy gap: equal rights for all

 

The Bill aims to amend the Fair Work Act 2009 to protect grieving parents who have workplace arrangements for parental leave in place. This is the right direction; private sector employees should not be disadvantaged simply because their employer did not have the foresight or resources to offer protected leave.

 

Organisations need to audit:

 

• Do we have a policy that explicitly covers loss or neonatal death?
• Do we apply it fairly to all employees, regardless of level, type of employment (part‐time, casual, permanent)?
• Is it clearly communicated to all employees, and do our managers know how to apply it in practice?

 

2. Embed a compassionate culture alongside policy

 

A policy is only as effective as the culture that surrounds it. As I said in the article, workplaces need to be equipped to provide counselling, flexible return-to-work pathways and manager training to respond to loss sensitively. Embedding compassion through major life events into workplace culture benefits everyone. This means employers should go beyond the bare minimum:

 

• Manager training on how to have conversations around loss, miscarriage, and stillbirth.
• Flexible return‐to‐work plans that recognise emotional and physical recovery may not follow standard patterns.
• Access to support (EAP, peer‐networks) that reflect the true spectrum of family experiences, fertility journeys, miscarriage, neonatal loss, and return to work.

 

3. View support as a strategic investment, not a cost

 

Supporting parents through every stage of their journey, from fertility and pregnancy to childbirth, loss and the return to work, isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s vital for building thriving, sustainable workplaces in this country.

 

When employees know their organisation stands with them through the hardest of times, trust deepens, engagement strengthens, and attrition falls. That is beneficial for both people and businesses. Employers should frame family‐inclusive support not as a “nice to have”, but as a strategic capability:

 

• Benchmark their policies and practices
• Track outcomes: retention of parents returning after major life events, uptake of support, and employee feedback.

 

The Baby Priya story and the reforms underway mark a pivotal moment. But legal change alone will not suffice. The difference between a “family-friendly workplace” and a truly “family-inclusive workplace” lies in how organisations act in the real, messy, deeply human moments of life. At Parents At Work, we will continue to partner with employers to ensure that no parent ever feels invisible or unsupported when the world shifts beneath them.

 

I thank the courageous parents whose advocacy has spurred this change; their story reminds us all that workplace policy and culture must reflect the full reality of family life, including loss, transition and the return to work. Let’s commit together to workplaces that recognise and respond to this reality.

 

By Emma Walsh, CEO of Parents At Work & Founder of Family Friendly Workplaces.