Under what conditions can additional maternity leave be reserved for mothers only? The CJEU answered this question in a decision handed down on 18 November in a French case after an appeal by the CFTC union over a collective agreement that included a provision recognizing the right to additional leave for female workers raising their children on their own, following the expiry of statutory maternity leave. This additional leave must intend to protect female workers with regard to the effects of pregnancy and motherhood and national judges must ascertain that this is indeed the objective being pursued by relying on the conditions for entitlement to the leave, its length and modalities of enjoyment, and the legal protection that attaches to that period of leave.
In this case, the collective agreement granted single mothers either a three-month leave period on half-pay or a one-and-a-half-month leave period on full pay alongside a full year of unpaid leave, following expiry of the standard maternity leave.
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