Paternity and childcare leave of a private sector employee

Verified 01 January 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

On the occasion of the birth of your child, you are granted leave as an employee and father of the child. If you are in pairs and you live with the child's mother, you can also take the leave.

We present you with the information you need to know.

You are entitled to paternity and childcare leave as an employee and father of your child.

If you are another employed person and in pairs with the child's mother, you can also take the leave.

Leave is granted unconditional seniority.

You also benefit from the leave regardless of the type of your employment contract (DTA: titleContent, CSD: titleContent or temporary contract).

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Birth of child

The duration of your paternity and foster care leave is 25 calendar days.

Your leave has 2 separate periods.

1 mandatory period of 4 calendar days taken immediately after birth leave

You are required to take your 3-day and 1-day birth leaveera 4-day period of your paternity and childcare leave.

Example :

Your child is born on a Sunday. You have a 3-day birth leave. Birth leave is calculated as working days. The leave therefore starts on the 1ster it takes place from Monday to Wednesday, the working day after birth. You must also immediately take the mandatory 4 days of paternity and foster care leave. This paternity and childcare leave is counted as calendar days, or from Thursday to Sunday. You must therefore take a cumulative leave from Monday to Sunday.

1 period of 21 calendar days

The second period of your 21-day leave can be split.

You can take these 21 days at once or in up to 2 periods.

Each period must have a minimum duration of 5 days.

Example :

your child is born on monday, january 8, 2024, you can take your leave as follows

  • Birth leave of 3 working days from Monday 8 to Wednesday 10 January 2024 inclusive
  • Compulsory period of paternity leave and foster care for the child of 4 calendar days from Thursday 11 to Sunday 14 January 2024 inclusive
  • Split period of paternity leave and foster care for the child of 5 calendar days from monday 22 to friday 26 january 2024 inclusive then from 16 calendar days of Monday 5 Tuesday 20 February 2024 inclusive

Birth of several children

The duration of your paternity and foster care leave is 32 calendar days.

Your leave has 2 separate periods.

1 mandatory period of 4 calendar days taken immediately after birth leave

You are required to take your 3-day and 1-day birth leaveera 4-day period of your paternity and childcare leave.

Example :

Your children are born on a Sunday. You have a 3-day birth leave. Birth leave is calculated as working days. The leave therefore starts on the 1ster it takes place from Monday to Wednesday, the working day after birth. You must also immediately take the mandatory 4 days of paternity and foster care leave. This paternity and childcare leave is counted as calendar days, or from Thursday to Sunday. You must therefore take a cumulative leave from Monday to Sunday.

1 period of 28 calendar days

The second period of your 28-day leave can be split.

You can take these 28 days at once or in up to 2 periods.

Each period must have a minimum duration of 5 days.

Example :

your children are born on monday, january 8, 2024, you can take your leave as follows

  • Birth leave of 3 working days from Monday 8 to Wednesday 10 January 2024 inclusive
  • Compulsory period of paternity leave and foster care for the child of 4 calendar days from Thursday 11 to Sunday 14 January 2024 inclusive
  • Split period of paternity leave and foster care for the child of 5 calendar days from monday 22 to friday 26 january 2024 inclusive then from 23 calendar days of Monday 5 Tuesday 27 February 2024 inclusive

General case

Your leave must begin within 6 months of the birth of your child (in particular to be entitled to compensation by CPAM: titleContent).

Death of mother

You're the child's father

You can take postnatal maternity leave.

You can extend the 6-month period for taking your paternity and childcare leave to the date of the end of postnatal maternity leave.

You live in a relationship with the mother

If you're not the father but you live as a couple with the mother, you can benefit from postnatal maternity leave provided that the father of the child does not benefit from it.

You can request to extend the 6-month period for taking your paternity and childcare leave to the date of the end of the postnatal maternity leave.

What steps do you need to take with your employer to benefit from the leave?

You must notify your employer at least 1 month before the leave start date.

If you meet this deadline, your employer cannot refuse you leave.

FYI  

If your child is born before the expected date of delivery, you can take your leave of absence within one month of birth. However, you must inform your employer.

You notify your employer in writing or orally.

You specify the start and end dates of the leave that you want to take.

For evidentiary reasons in the event of a dispute, it is preferable to send your employer a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt (LRAR) or a hand-delivered letter against dump.

You can submit your request via the template document to be completed online:

Applying for paternity and childcare leave

Please note

you can apply for your leave before your child is born.

What are the steps to take with your CPAM to benefit from the leave?

You make your representations to your CPAM: titleContent as follows:

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You're the father of your child

General case

You send your request to your CPAM one of the following documents:

  • Either a full copy of your child's birth certificate
  • Either the copy of the updated family record book
Death of child

A copy of the child's act of recognition (if the child is stillborn) should be sent to your CPAM.

You are another person living in a relationship with the mother

General case

You send your request to your CPAM one of the following documents:

  • Either a full copy of your child's birth certificate
  • Either the copy of the updated family record book

You also send the CPAM a document specifying the link with your child's mother, one of the following documents:

  • Let's take the marriage certificate
  • Either a copy of your Civil partnerships: titleContent
  • Either the certificate of common life or cohabitation less than one year old
  • Or a certificate on the honor of your marital life co-signed by your child's mother

Death of child

A copy of the child's act of recognition (if the child is stillborn) should be sent to your CPAM.

Conditions

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General case

Since August 20, 2023

To be compensated, you must meet all of the following conditions:

  • Take paternity and childcare leave within 6 months of birth (unless the deadline is extended due to hospitalization of the child or death of the mother)
  • Have had a social security number for at least 6 months on the date of commencement of the leave
  • Have worked at least 150 hours in the three months preceding the start of the leave (or have contributed to a salary at least equivalent to €11,439.05 within the last 6 months before the start of the leave)
  • Cease all employment, even in the case of work for several employers (in the case of a request for leave from one employer and continuation of the activity from the other, the CPAM: titleContent may claim reimbursement of the amount paid)
Before August 20, 2023

To be compensated, you must meet all of the following conditions:

  • Take paternity and childcare leave within 6 months of birth (unless the deadline is extended due to hospitalization of the child or death of the mother)
  • Have had a social security number for at least 10 months on the date of commencement of the leave
  • Have worked at least 150 hours in the three months preceding the start of the leave (or have contributed to a salary at least equivalent to €11,439.05 within the last 6 months before the start of the leave)
  • Cease all employment, even in the case of work for several employers (in the case of a request for leave from one employer and continuation of the activity from the other, the CPAM: titleContent may claim reimbursement of the amount paid)

Seasonal or discontinuous activity

Since August 20, 2023

To be compensated, you must meet all of the following conditions:

  • Take paternity and childcare leave within 6 months of birth (unless the delay is extended due to hospitalization of the child or death of the mother)
  • Have had a social security number for at least 6 months on the date of commencement of the leave
  • Have worked at least 600 hours (or have contributed to a salary of at least €22,878.10) in the last 12 months before the start of the leave
  • Cease all employment, even in the case of work for several employers (in the case of a request for leave from one employer and continuation of the activity from the other, the CPAM: titleContent may claim reimbursement of the amount paid)
Before August 20, 2023

To be compensated, you must meet all of the following conditions:

  • Take paternity and childcare leave within 6 months of birth (unless the delay is extended due to hospitalization of the child or death of the mother)
  • Have had a social security number for at least 10 months on the date of commencement of the leave
  • Have worked at least 600 hours (or have contributed to a salary of at least €22,878.10) in the last 12 months before the start of the leave
  • Cease all employment, even in the case of work for several employers (in the case of a request for leave from one employer and continuation of the activity from the other, the CPAM: titleContent may claim reimbursement of the amount paid)

Amount

The CPAM: titleContent pay per diem allowances (IJ), the amount of which shall be determined in accordance with the following calculation steps:

  • Calculation of the basic daily wage : sum of the last 3 gross salaries received before the date of interruption of work, divided by a coefficient of 91,25.
  • Maximum basic daily wage : The salary taken into account may not exceed the monthly social security ceiling in force on the last day of the month preceding the termination (either €3,864 per month in 2024, or €3,666 in 2023).
  • Flat rate applied by CPAM : CPAM withdraws from this basic daily wage a flat rate of 21%.
  • Minimum and maximum amount of JI : Amount cannot be less than €10.79 not greater than €100.36 per day.

One simulator allows you to estimate the amount of your IJs:

Calculate maternity or paternity daily allowance

Please note

Of treaty provisions may provide for more favorable conditions of compensation than those of Social Security, up to and including full maintenance of the salary.

Payment

Per diems are paid every 14 days.

Paternity and childcare leave entails suspension of your employment contract.

You may resign during your leave of absence.

At the end of your leave, you return to your previous job (or a similar job with at least the same pay).

During paternity and child care leave, you cannot be fired.

However, your employer may terminate your contract in case of serious misconduct or inability to maintain your contract for any reason other than your paternity and childcare leave.

The duration of paternity and childcare leave shall be treated as a period of actual working time for the determination of your seniority rights.

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