The National Assembly voted unanimously this Thursday night in favor of extending the minimum license for the death of a child, taking it from 5 to 12 days in the Labor Code.
The deputies approved an amendment La France insoumise (LFI) in this regard, as part of the examination of a bill from the Horizons group that aims to improve support for families of seriously ill children.
A controversy in 2020
The rebel Frédéric Mathieu defended this extension, necessary to “complete the administrative procedures” and “materials” around a death.
“No day off will replace the loss of a child,” he also stressed.
Currently, the Labor Code provides for five days for the death of a child, or seven working days if it is under 25 years of age. For the death of a child under the age of 25, in 2020 an additional eight days of “parental bereavement leave” were added, which can be divided, covered in part by Social Security.
The initial rejection of the Assembly two years ago to an extension of the leave in the Labor Code, proposed by Guy Bricout (UDI), had unleashed a wave of indignation, and the Minister of Labor at the time, Muriel Pénicaud, had found in the hot seat.
“We can only agree on this issue”
The deputies avoided reproducing such an episode on Thursday night, but the rapporteur Paul Christophe (Horizons) said he was “quite ashamed” that this amendment intervenes within the framework of a text intended to “protect the parents of a child alive and well “. . Instead, he invited, but to no avail, to take stock of the 2020 design.
The Minister of Solidarity, Jean-Christophe Combe, stressed that “we can only agree on this issue” of bereavement leave, and trusted the “wisdom” of the Assembly.
Examined at first reading, the bill on “the protection of families of children suffering from illness or disability, or victims of a particularly serious accident” was also approved unanimously, which must now go to the Senate, as well filled.
It plans to increase from two to five days the duration for parents of leave for announcing the appearance of a disability or a chronic pathology of a child. The text also provides for prohibiting the dismissal of any affected parent employee, facilitating access to teleworking or even keeping it in the accommodation, under conditions, in the event of renewal of the lease.
Deputies from the National Rally (RN) provoked widespread disapproval by submitting amendments to reserve certain measures for parents, at least one of whom is a French national.
Source: BFM TV
