paternity leave

The French wage-earner has today a leave maternity 16 weeks on the whole for a simple birth, 6 weeks before the labor and 10 weeks afterwards. The European commission recently adopted a draft Directive according to which the leave maternity is lengthened at 18 weeks. This project aims at making it possible to the women to reconcile their professional life with their family life. If this project is adopted, France will have to put its national right in conformity with the Community legislation and to thus lengthen the duration of the leave maternity. This rule will not be able, in any event, applicable being in France before 2010, even 2011.

If it meets the conditions provided for by the law, the employee can profit from a sabbatical leave for one duration varying between 6 and nths. To make his request, the employee must inform his employer by registered letter with acknowledgment of delivery or letter given in clean hand, at least nths before his departure, of the date on which its sabbatical leave starts. As from the reception or presentation of this letter, the employer then has 30 days to make known its answer. The silence of the employer within this 30 day is worth acceptance. The social room of the Court of appeal specified recently that this agreement is regarded as asset even if the employee informed it of his intention to take a sabbatical leave without adhering to the nths deadline. It is advisable however to remain vigilant because this decision was returned for a firm of 200 paid and more, undertaken in which the sabbatical leave cannot, in any event, refused being, but only deferred. It is thus not certain that the same solution is implemented in the firms of less than 200 paid.

Within the framework of the law, the employee profits 4 days off exceptional remunerated for his marriage. The labor regulation thus grants a certain reconnaissance to this major family event of the life of paid and contributes to it by offering these days off to him. But, that is it when this same employee wishes, not to marry, but ? In the event of CIVIL SOLIDARITY PACT, the law is definitely less comprehensive since it does not grant any days off at the time of the conclusion of a CIVIL SOLIDARITY PACT. However, in the event of death of the partner of the employee linked by a CIVIL SOLIDARITY PACT, the law grants the same number of days is 2, that in the event of death of the spouse of the employee. Vis-a-vis these problems, the DUMP has, in a discussion of February 2008, considered that the refusal to grant to the employees the same advantages that with paid married was discriminatory. The institution goes even further since she recommends an amendment of the items and of the new labor regulation aiming at granting the same rights to the unit of paid as regards family events. By this discussion, the DUMP preaches an egalitarianism of the social rights between employees.