Maternity leave is how long a woman can take off work after having a baby. In most countries, women are guaranteed some kind of maternity leave benefits from their employer so they have the time to recover and bond with their new child. However, how long is maternity leave in France? This blog post will break down how much time you are allowed to stay home with your baby per year by law!
How Long is Maternity Leave in France
Maternity leave is how long a woman can take off work after having a baby. In most countries, women are guaranteed some kind of maternity leave benefits from their employer so they have the time to recover and bond with their new child. However, how long is maternity leave in France? This blog post will break down how much time you are allowed to stay home with your baby per year by law!
Parental Leave / Maternité
Most people know that French parents get generous parental leave or maternité under the government’s health insurance plan called Assurance Maladie (AM). According to a 2015 article published by L’Express , “After 14 weeks at 100 per cent salary: mothers benefit for three years from 80 per cent pay.” This means that for the first three years after their child is born, mothers are paid 80 per cent of their salary by AM.
Maternité leave can be divided into two parts – première période and deuxième période . The première period begins on your date of childbirth or adoption placement. You have six weeks to go through a consultation with social services at CAF (Caisse d’Allocations Familiales), which will advise how long you should take off work for recovery during this time. After passing the six-week mark, “the mother has 14 weeks in total before returning to work.
Within these 14 weeks, she must consult again with.” Finally, once you have returned to work, you are entitled to receive benefits for the next fourteen weeks. “This period corresponds to your baby’s first year of life.
Why is maternity leave important?
One of the biggest changes a woman’s body goes through is during pregnancy and after giving birth. The mother needs time to recover from this major change, as well as to bond with their little one. This caretaking period should not be rushed or cut short by returning to work immediately following childbirth.
Why does America not have paid maternity leave?
Maternity leave is not guaranteed in the United States, unlike many other countries. While some companies offer paid maternity leave, others do not provide any coverage at all. This can make it challenging for women who are expecting or have recently given birth to return to work soon after giving birth. America has a long way to go when it comes to maternity leave.
What is the Difference Between Paid and Unpaid Maternity Leave?
When a woman is ready to return to work following childbirth, she may choose between paid or unpaid leave. Paid maternity leave provides an income for women who are on their period of leave and does not have any preexisting conditions that prevent them from returning to the same job they held before going on one’s own time.
Unpaid maternity leaves typically do not offer compensation and can be taken concurrently with sick days if someone has accrued enough to cover necessary bills while away from work. While both plans provide some form of coverage, only the former offers financial assistance during someone’s absence at home with their newborn baby.
Maternity Leave: How Does America Measure Up?
America fails miserably when it comes to maternal leave policies. It is one of only a handful of countries around the world that doesn’t mandate paid maternity leave for new mothers who have worked at least a certain period on their job(s).
Some states have taken matters into their own hands and created more generous policies than what federal law requires. California was the first state to pass an official pregnancy disability program in 1978, which was followed by New Jersey just a few years later with its Pregnancy Disability Leave Law (PDLL).
Minnesota’s Maternity Leave Act passed soon after as well, but it also allowed women to take time off due to any “disability” caused by having given birth. This last clause raised concern among some employers about the potential abuse of this benefit so, in 1993, Minnesota passed another law that allows women to take maternity leave without defining what constitutes a disability.
Why is paid maternity leave important?
When a woman has to return to work shortly after she gives birth, it can create many problems for both her and her baby. For one thing, babies need lots of caretaking during their first few months to bond with the mother and grow properly.
If women do not get enough time at home while caring for their newborns they may experience feelings of guilt or resentment towards their child because they feel like they were forced back into work too soon which could affect the relationship between them and negatively impact development overall.
Additionally, if mothers don’t spend enough time bonding with their children during these early stages, some studies show this will cause developmental delays later in life.