The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section:

"13A.

(1) An employee shall be entitled to leave without pay from his or her employment, to be known and referred to in this Act as leave for medical care purposes, for the purposes of providing personal care or support to a person to whom this subsection applies.

(2) Subsection (1) applies to a person who -

(a) is one of the following:

(i) a person of whom the employee is the relevant parent;

(ii) the spouse or civil partner of the employee;

(iii) the cohabitant of the employee;

(iv) a parent or grandparent of the employee;

(v) a brother or sister of the employee;

(vi) a person, other than one specified in any of subparagraphs (i) to (v), who resides in the same household as the employee,

and

(b) is in need of significant care or support for a serious medical reason.

(3) Leave for medical care purposes shall consist of one or more days on which, but for the leave, the employee would be working in the employment concerned but shall not exceed 5 days in any period of 12 consecutive months and shall not be taken in a period of less than one day.