Birth leave: the government is refining the system with the social partners

The Minister of Families Sarah El Haïry brought together employers, unions, elected officials and family associations on Wednesday to refine the new three-month “birth leave” for each parent.

“The minister asked us if the new birth leave should replace the current parental leave or be an alternative,” said Fanny de Coster, who represented the CGT.

Most participants were of the opinion that compensation for parental leave until the child turns 3 should be maintained, several participants indicated.

“The short duration of this new birth leave, its too low compensation were repeatedly highlighted by the participants,” confirmed one of them.

This new system would allow the father and mother to take three months off each, during the child's first year. They will be paid 50% of their salary, a maximum of 1.900 euros.

It would be in addition to the 16-week paid maternity leave and the 28 days of paid leave (birth and paternity) granted to fathers.

“This birth leave should be extended to cover the child's first year,” argued Unaf, which wants the current parental leave to be maintained in parallel “which allows the parent to stay with their child until upon entering kindergarten.

The CGT defended six months of birth leave for each parent, paid at 100%, and wants parental leave until the child is three years old to be better paid, she told AFP.

Medef believes that the creation of shorter and better paid leave “goes in the right direction”.

"This measure responds to several priorities: reconciliation between parenthood and professional life, future of the Social Security system in a context of historic decline in the birth rate, improvement of gender equality", indicated a spokesperson at the AFP.

“However, its financial sustainability in the current budgetary context cannot result in an increase in employers' costs,” insists the employers' organization.

The minister “took note of the questions and demands, but gave no response at this stage,” indicates the CGT.

Questioned by AFP, the Ministry of Families did not wish to comment on the meeting.

According to participants, the minister intends to organize other "thematic meetings" between now and June, with the objective of including the reform in the Social Security financing bill for 2025.