Are you entitled to pregnancy-related absences in the public service?

Verified 24 November 2023 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

If you are a civil servant or a contract worker, you may be granted leave of absence during your pregnancy for various reasons. You may also be granted leave for medical procedures necessary for assisted reproduction (PMA).

Pregnancy

If you are a civil servant (trainee or holder) or a contract employee, you can benefit from the following absence authorizations, if the service requirements allow it :

  • From the beginning of 3e month of pregnancy, up to one hour per day, on the advice of the occupational doctor
  • To attend childbirth preparation sessions if they cannot be held outside your working hours. These leave authorizations are granted on the advice of the occupational doctor in the light of the proof of appointment.
  • To get to the compulsory pre- or post-partum medical examinations provided for by the Health Insurance
  • For breastfeeding up to one hour per day to be taken in 2 doses if your administration has a nursery. In the absence of a nursery, the administration may also grant leave to breastfeed if the proximity of the child's place of custody so permits.

Leave to attend compulsory pre- or post-partum medical examinations shall be remunerated.

Please note

Absence authorizations, as non-working days, are not considered periods of actual work.

LDCs

If you receive a Assisted Reproductive Technology (MAP), you may be granted leave of absence for the necessary medical procedures.

If she is a public official, the person who lives with you may also be absent, if service requirements allow it, to take part in up to 3 of the medical procedures necessary for each protocol of medical assistance in reproduction.

The duration of the absence shall be proportionate to the duration of the document received.

These absences are paid. They shall be considered as periods of actual work.

FYI  

If the person who lives with you is an employee, he or she can also be granted leave to attend 3 of the medical procedures required for each protocol of the medical assistance course. Such absences shall not entail any reduction in remuneration and shall be treated as an effective period of work for the purpose of determining the length of paid leave and for legal or contractual rights granted on the basis of seniority in the company.