Parental leave is the umbrella term for time off granted to employees to care for a child. It covers maternity leave, paternity leave, adoption leave, and shared parental leave, each with its own eligibility rules, duration, and pay. The specifics are set by national law and often topped up by employer policy.

Entitlements differ sharply between countries. The EU guarantees a minimum of four months of parental leave per parent under the Work-Life Balance Directive, while the UK moved to day-one eligibility for several family-leave types in 2026. Many countries reserve a portion of leave specifically for fathers or second parents to encourage shared caregiving.

Because parental leave can run for months and interacts with pay, accrual, and return-to-work rights, it is one of the harder leave types to administer manually. Managing it in Calamari's Time Off module keeps long absences, balances, and approvals accurate across every country a company employs in.