A proposed amendment to Article 43 of the Labor Code, which concerns exclusive parental leave for fathers, mandates a compulsory 28-day parental leave for fathers, to be taken consecutively or in intervals, within the first 42 days following the birth of a child. Fourteen of these days must be taken consecutively immediately after the birth.
Currently, the law stipulates that fathers must take at least seven days off following the birth of their child.
According to the current law, it is mandatory for fathers to take a 28-day parental leave, either consecutively or in minimum seven-day intervals, within the 42-day period after the child’s birth, with seven days taken consecutively immediately after the birth.
Among the more than 100 proposed changes to the Labor Code included in the draft version of labor legislation reform presented to social partners are modifications to various forms of leave such as adoption leave, initial parental leave, and leave for breastfeeding or nursing.
Regarding leave for pregnancy termination, outlined in Article 38 of the Labor Code, the government intends to categorize it as an absence to assist the worker’s companion under such circumstances.
“The regime of absences for providing assistance to a family member, as outlined in Article 252, applies to the companion of the worker,” states the draft law proposal presented to social partners.
Under current law, “in the event of pregnancy interruption, the worker is entitled to leave lasting between 14 and 30 days,” and violation of this right constitutes a very serious offense.
For leave due to assistance, the law allows a worker to be absent from work “up to 15 days per year to provide essential and urgent assistance in cases of illness or accident to a spouse or person living in a de facto union or economic partnership with the worker, or to relatives up to the second degree of kinship.”
The government approved a draft “comprehensive reform” of labor legislation in a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, which will be negotiated with social partners and aims to revise “more than a hundred articles of the Labor Code.”
The reform, termed “Work XXI,” aims to make labor regimes more flexible, described as “very rigid,” to enhance economic competitiveness and boost company productivity, according to the Minister of Labor, Solidarity, and Social Security, speaking at a press conference after the Cabinet meeting.
