Charlie Buttrey

September 30, 2020

Mothers of newborns in France are entitled to take up to 16 weeks of maternity leave, half of which is compulsory. And although French fathers are entitled to two weeks of paternity leave, only two-thirds of French dads take any paternity leave at all.

That’s about to change.

French President Emmanuel Macron recently announced that the country will double its paid paternity leave from 14 to 28 days, and seven of those days will be mandatory.

Fun fact: Out of the world’s 196 countries, the US and Papua New Guinea are the only ones that have no federally-mandated policy to give new mothers paid time off. By comparison, Estonia mandates 86 weeks of paid leave, and nine others — Slovenia, Norway, Latvia, Slovakia, Austria, Lithuania, Japan, Hungary and Bulgaria, all mandate at least a year.

 

© 2020 Charlie Buttrey Law by Nomad Communications