A PREGNANT WOMAN WHO WORKED AS BUS DRIVER IS DISGRUNTLED AS SHE ENDS UP NOT BEEN PAID HER PARENTAL LEAVE AS SHE HAD'NT WORKED TEN MONTH IN A ROW

A mother who was forced to work until the day before she was due to give birth to her daughter has devastatingly been denied paid parental leave.
Shelley Parker, a young mother and private bus driver who lives in the north of Sydney, thought she had ticked all the boxes for parental leave before having a baby last month.
After working to ensure she would be able to take six months off to care for her newborn daughter, Evelyn, Ms Parker was reduced to tears when she was told she would not receive any support payments.


Shelley Parker was forced to work until the day before she was due to give birth to her daughter, only to be 'devastatingly' denied paid parental leave

'It was horrible... I was terribly upset,' Ms Parker told Daily Mail Australia.

'I spoke to a lady (from Centrelink) on the phone about it and ended up bursting into tears. It's incredibly stressful and distressing.

We were really counting on this... everything, especially raising a child, costs so much money nowadays.'

Ms Parker said she was denied paid parental leave, despite having met the requirements to work 10 months out of 13 prior to giving birth, because it wasn't consecutive.

Ms Parker, a young mother who lives in the north of Sydney, thought she had ticked all the boxes through her job as a bus driver before having a baby last month


Evelyn Parker (pictured), was born on July 6, 2015

The break was so she could travel to the United Kingdom with her family for a reunion. The trip cost thousands of dollars. 

However, Ms Parker claims that she was informed by Centrelink that the holiday wouldn't make a difference to her application for paid parental leave. 

'I called twice before we left last year to make sure it was all still OK,' she said.

After working to ensure she would be able to take sixth months off to care for her newborn daughter, Evelyn, Ms Parker was reduced to tears when she was told she would not receive any support payments


It was horrible... I was terribly upset,' Ms Parker told Daily Mail Australia, after being denied paid parental leave. 'I spoke to a lady on the phone about it and ended up bursting into tears'

'They never told me the 10 months had to be consecutive. I thought we were doing the right things and didn't know it would cause a problem.

'They have told me I would have needed to work just one hour on two days during that trip. If I knew that then, I would've got a paper round for a day... If I knew all the trouble it would cause.'

Ms Parker said she is currently at the third stage of an appeal against the rejection, and is currently in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Ms Parker, pictured in May this year, was denied payments because although she worked the required ten months prior to giving birth, they were not consecutive 

'They never told me the 10 months had to be consecutive. I thought we were doing the right things and didn't know it would cause a problem,' the distraught mum said

Heartbreakingly, she was initially told by the review the denial would be overturned, only for the decision to be changed 'less than five minutes later'.

'That was crushing... I went from the elation of having this fixed to back down to where we are now,' Ms Parker said.

The Transport Workers Union NSW has since sprung to Ms Parker's defence, and said it unfair to deny her the payments. 

'Shelley and her family aren't looking for some 'rolled gold' Paid Parental Leave scheme, they're just seeking access the regular scheme that Tony Abbott's Government has shut them out of on a technicality,' TWU NSW Secretary Michael Aird said.

Ms Parker is a bus driver in Sydney, and worked until the day before she was due to give birth in order to 'tick all the boxes' for the paid parental leave scheme

Ms Parker said she is currently at the third stage of an appeal against the rejection, and is currently in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. She said it would be almost impossible to raise young Evelyn without the help

'Taxpayers fund PPL so that in the first 18 weeks working mums like Shelley don't have to choose between spending time with their newborns and providing for them.'

A spokeswoman for the Minister for Social Services, Scott Morrison, said the current guidelines state a parent must have worked continuously for at least 10 of the 13 months prior to birth to be eligible for the paid parental leave scheme, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. 

'The scheme addresses this by allowing a break of up to eight weeks between days of 'qualifying work',' the spokeswoman said. 

'Qualifying work includes paid leave, but not unpaid leave.'