Hiring parental leave cover for an OT, speech pathologist or physio: what the rules say

Written by Callum Trevorrow. Last checked 28 October 2026 against official sources.

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Under the National Employment Standards (NES), an eligible employee can take up to 12 months of unpaid parental leave, or up to 24 months if you agree, and has a right to return to their pre-leave role. So parental leave cover is a temporary role with a moving end date, and the Fair Work Ombudsman says you must tell the replacement three things before you engage them.

This is general information, not legal advice. For your situation, talk to the Fair Work Ombudsman or an employment lawyer. I commissioned a hospital avoidance service and recruited close to 30 FTE using values-based hiring, and I now run a multi-site paediatric allied health practice in South East Queensland. This page puts the rules a practice owner needs in one place.

What the person going on leave is entitled to

What this means for cover. The end date you start with may move. The employee can ask to extend to 24 months, and the leave can also end early. Plan the replacement contract around that from day one.

What you must tell the replacement

Before you engage someone to replace an employee on unpaid parental leave, the Fair Work Ombudsman says you must tell them:

1. the engagement is temporary
2. the employee on leave has a right to return to work when the leave ends
3. there are situations where you or the employee on leave can end the leave early.

Put it in writing in the offer, so a clinician who is weighing your role against a permanent one knows exactly what they’re signing up for. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s replacement employees page has the detail.

Fixed-term contract limits, and the replacement exception

For fixed-term contracts made on or after 6 December 2023, unless an exception applies:

• the contract can’t run for more than 2 years, including extensions and renewals
• it can’t include an option to extend or renew so the employment goes past 2 years, or to extend or renew more than once
• there’s a limit on consecutive contracts for similar work with substantial continuity.

You must give every new fixed-term employee the Fixed Term Contract Information Statement (FTCIS) when, or as soon as possible after, you enter the contract. Casuals are excluded from these rules.

The exception for cover. Fair Work lists “emergency circumstances or replacing someone who is temporarily away” among the exceptions to the limits, and Fair Work’s own example is a contract replacing an employee on 24 months’ parental leave. So for a parental leave cover contract, an exception may apply. Whether it applies to your contract is a question for Fair Work or your lawyer, especially if the leave is extended towards 24 months and the cover runs with it.

Paid Parental Leave: the basics

Paid Parental Leave is a government payment, separate from the unpaid leave above.

Any paid parental leave your own policy or agreement offers sits on top of this; check your documents.

Timing: what to sort before the replacement starts

• A Medicare provider number for your practice location. If the replacement will bill Medicare, they need a provider number for each practice location, applied for in HPOS. Services Australia says to apply early because of a surge between December and April.
• The right credential for each profession. Services Australia says OTs and physios need current general or limited registration with their Ahpra board for Medicare-rebated work. Speech pathologists aren’t Ahpra-registered; they need Certified Practising status with Speech Pathology Australia.
• A handover window. Overlapping the replacement with the person going on leave is a choice, not a rule, but it can only be planned before the leave starts.
• An early return. Because the leave can end early, decide now how you’d end or adjust the cover role, and make sure the offer says so.

By profession

A clinician comparing your cover role will also look at the Queensland Health HP3 scale, A$83,824 to A$120,740 a year from 1 September 2026, so be ready to explain how your package compares.

How we fit in

We place clinicians into fixed-term contract roles, including parental leave cover, as well as permanent roles. The clinician is employed by your practice on your contract, not by us. We don’t supply workers we engage or pay, which is what makes a business labour hire under Queensland’s licensing scheme. How recruiter fees to employers work under Queensland’s code is on recruiter fees and the Queensland PEA code.

If the person you hire is coming from overseas, our onboarding guide covers registration and provider numbers. If you’re thinking of sponsoring someone for a cover role, read sponsor obligations first and talk to a registered migration agent before you advertise.

Next step

Work out three things before you advertise: the likely start and end dates, whether you’d agree to an extension if it’s asked for, and which profession and credential you need. Then tell us about the role below. We’ll tell you what clinicians in that profession are likely to ask about a cover role, and what to put in the offer so they can say yes.