France: paternity leave extended from 11 to 25 calendar days

From 01 July 2021, fresh extensions to paternity and new children leave come into effect, rising from the current 11 to 25 calendar days for a single child, and from 18 to 32 calendar days for more than one child. As such, fathers, or if applicable, ‘the mother’s spouse, partner or person linked by a civil solidarity pact will see their total potential leave periods rise to 35 days when the three days of employer-paid legal child birth leave are also included. Introduced by the Social Security Financing Act for 2021 (Fr), this extended paternity leave is being financed by Social Security and can be taken within six months of the child’s birth. Decree No. 2021-574 of 10 May 2021 (Fr), setting out exactly how the leave can be taken up specifies that it may now ‘be split into two periods of at least five days each’ or for multiple births ‘into three periods of at least five days each.’ A minimum of seven consecutive days must however be ‘taken immediately after the birth,’ i.e. 3 days of birth leave and 4 days of paternity leave. The provisions of the decree apply to fathers of children born on or after July 1, as well as to children born prior to that date but whose pregnancy period was scheduled to end later.