Rules for renewing parental leave are relaxed

You can take parental leave if a child in your care is suffering from an illness, disability or a particularly serious accident. You are then entitled to leave of absence for a maximum of 310 days working days; you can use this reserve of days as needed for up to 3 years.

If you have used up your reserve of days before the end of this period, you can benefit from an additional 310 days of leave to be taken during a new 3-year period. This “exceptional” renewal is possible:

• or if your child’s disease has come back or comes back;
• or when the seriousness of your child’s condition still requires a sustained presence and restrictive care.

Until now, in order to be eligible for this renewal, you had to obtain the explicit agreement of the medical check-up service of your primary health insurance fund or the special social security scheme. In the absence of a response from this service 2 months after receipt of the request, the renewal was automatically considered to be refused.

From now on, the medical control service no longer intervenes in the acceptance of the application for an ‘exceptional’ renewal of parental leave. When applying for a renewal with your employer, you only need to attach a new medical certificate issued by the doctor who follows your child. This document should indicate the need for binding care and the need for you to remain with the child.

How to continue to receive the daily parental attendance allowance?

During your parental leave, you do not receive salary maintenance but a daily parental attendance allowance (DPA).

In order to continue to receive this allowance on the occasion of an “exceptional” renewal of parental leave, you must send your child's new detailed medical certificate to your family allowance fund (CAF), to the attention of the medical control department.

Until now, as with the request for an ‘exceptional’ renewal of parental leave, a failure to reply by this service 2 months after receipt of the request was considered to be a refusal. Now, this lack of response is tantamount to a favorable opinion on your request to renew the daily parental attendance allowance.