The Government amends the Paternity Leave Law No. 210/1999, through an emergency ordinance that transposes Directive (EU) 2019/1158 on work-life balance for parents and carers into national legislation.
The normative act provides for the granting of paternity leave and the related allowance to all fathers who have the status of worker, with a employment contract or an employment relationship concluded according to the law, and eliminates the old provisions that referred to their insured status within the state social insurance system.
Furthermore, persons with contracts in sports activities, with individual labor agreements (cooperatives), with mandate contracts, with management contracts concluded according to Law no. 66/1993 on management contracts, those who carry out activities as a result of a public position and persons with management and administration contracts concluded according to Law no. 95/2006 on health reform, republished, with subsequent amendments and supplements, are also assimilated to workers.
At the same time, the document adopted by the Government also extends the current duration of paternal leave from 5 to 10 working days, and in the case of fathers who have obtained a certificate of completion of the childcare course, this is increased by another 5 days, for each child, and not just for the firstborn, as before. In the case of a father who fulfills military service on time, the leave is extended from 7 to 10 working days.
During the period of parental leave, the father benefits from an allowance equal to the salary corresponding to the respective period. The payment of parental leave rights will be supported, as before, from the fund WAGES of the employer.
The normative act also introduces new regulations regarding the employer's obligation to approve parental leave, complements the current ones regarding the prohibition of dismissing the worker during parental leave, as well as sanctions in case of non-compliance with the legal provisions.
Paternity leave is granted to ensure the father's effective participation in caring for the newborn child and to facilitate the reconciliation of professional life with family life.
