A father or other parent entitled to, or on, leave under section 16 may request in writing to postpone part or all of his subsection (1)(a), (1A) or (1)(b) leave, or a period of further leave under section 16(4), where the child is hospitalised; for certain requests he is deemed to have complied with section 16(6). An employer may agree to postpone the leave, in which case the parent shall continue or return to work by an agreed date not later than the notified leave end date, the leave shall be postponed and the parent shall be entitled to resumed leave to be taken in one continuous period under regulations commencing not later than 7 days after the child’s discharge; the employer must notify its decision as soon as reasonably practicable.

If, during postponement, the parent is absent from work due to sickness, resumed leave is deemed to commence on the first day of that absence unless the parent notifies as soon as reasonably practicable that he does not wish to commence, in which case the sickness absence is treated normally and the resumed leave is forfeited. Regulations may prescribe a maximum postponement period and the evidence of hospitalisation and discharge to be furnished; entitlement to resumed leave requires notification as soon as reasonably practicable but not later than the day the leave begins (revocable within that period), subject to the employer’s discretion to waive the notification; specified compliance with section 28 is modified where leave is postponed.