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Paternity and foster care leave for the child of a private sector employee

Verified 01 January 2023 - 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 couple living with the child's mother, you can also benefit from the leave. You must meet certain conditions: approaching your employer, date of departure on leave, maximum duration of leave. You may receive compensation from the Social Security during your leave.

You benefit from the paternity and foster care leave of the child as an employee and father of your child.

If you are another employee and couple with the child's mother, you can also take the time off.

Leave is granted without seniority.

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

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Birth of a 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 the birth leave

You are required to take your 3-day birth leave and the 1ere 4-day period of paternity and child-care leave.

Example :

your child is born on a saturday. You have 3 days of birth leave. Birth leave shall be calculated by business days. The leave starts on the 1stto the following working day, it is therefore held from Monday to Wednesday. You must also take the 4 mandatory days of paternity leave and child care immediately. This paternity and child-care leave shall be counted as calendar days, 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 in one time or in no more than 2 periods.

Each period shall have a minimum duration of 5 days.

Example :

your child is born on july 5, 2021, you can take your leave as follows:

  • Birth Leave 3 business days Monday 5 to Wednesday 7 July
  • Mandatory period of paternity leave and foster care for the child of 4 calendar days from Thursday 8 July to Sunday 11 July
  • Split period of paternity leave and foster care for the child of 5 calendar days from Monday 19 to Friday 23 July and from 16 calendar days 16 to 31 August 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 the birth leave

You are required to take your 3-day birth leave and the 1ere 4-day period of paternity and child-care leave.

Example :

your children are born on a saturday. You have 3 days of birth leave. Birth leave shall be calculated by business days. The leave starts on the 1stto the following working day, it is therefore held from Monday to Wednesday. You must also take the 4 mandatory days of paternity leave and child care immediately. This paternity and child-care leave shall be counted as calendar days, 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 in one time or in 2 periods at most.

Each period shall have a minimum duration of 5 days.

Example :

your children are born on july 5, 2021, so you can take your leave as follows:

  • Birth Leave 3 business days Monday 5 to Wednesday 7 July
  • Mandatory period of paternity leave and foster care for the child of 4 calendar days from Thursday 8 July to Sunday 11 July
  • Split period of paternity leave and foster care for the child of 5 calendar days from Monday 19 to Friday 23 July, then from 23 calendar days August 16 to September 7 inclusive

General case

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

Mother dies

You're the child's father

You can take advantage of postnatal maternity leave.

You can postpone the 6-month period for taking paternity and child-care leave to the end of postnatal maternity leave.

You live in a relationship with the mother

If you're not the father but you live together with the mother, you can take post-natal maternity leave provided the child's father does not take it.

You can request a 6-month extension to take your paternity and child-care leave to the end of postnatal maternity leave.

What steps do you need to take with your employer to take advantage of the leave?

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

If you meet this deadline, your employer cannot deny you time off.

FYI  

If your child is born before the expected date of birth, you can take your leave 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 you want to take.

It is preferable, for reasons of proof in case of dispute, to send your employer a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt (LRAR) or a letter of own against discharge.

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

Request paternity and child-care leave

Please note

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

What steps do you have to take with your CPAM to benefit from the leave?

You apply to your CPAM: titleContent under the following conditions:

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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:

  • Or the full copy of your child's birth certificate
  • Or a copy of the updated family booklet
Death of the child

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

You're another person living in a relationship with the mother

General case

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

  • Or the full copy of your child's birth certificate
  • Or a copy of the updated family booklet

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

  • Either the marriage certificate extract
  • Or a copy of your Civil partnerships: titleContent
  • Either the certificate of common life or of less than one year old cohabitation
  • Or a certificate of honour for your married life co-signed by your child's mother

Death of the child

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

Terms

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General case

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

  • Take paternity and foster care leave within 6 months of birth (unless the delay is delayed due to hospitalisation or death of the mother)
  • Possess a Social Security number for at least 10 months from the date of the start of the leave
  • Have worked at least 150 hours in the 3 months preceding the start of the leave (or have contributed on a salary at least equivalent to €11,439.05 in the last 6 months preceding the beginning of the leave)
  • Terminate any activity as an employee, even in the case of work for more than one employer (in the case of a request for leave from one employer and a continuation of the activity from the other, the CPAM: titleContent may claim the refund of the amount paid)

Seasonal or discontinuous activity

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

  • Take paternity and foster care leave within 6 months of birth (unless the delay is delayed due to hospitalisation or death of the mother)
  • Possess a Social Security number for at least 10 months from the date of the start of the leave
  • Have worked at least 600 hours (or have contributed on a salary at least equivalent to €21,457.10) in the last 12 months preceding the beginning of the leave
  • Terminate any activity as an employee, even in the case of work for more than one employer (in the case of a request for leave from one employer and a continuation of the activity from the other, the CPAM: titleContent may claim the refund of the amount paid)

Amount

Calculate maternity or paternity per diem

The CPAM: titleContent pay per diem (LTD) amounts determined in accordance with the following calculation steps:

  • Calculation of basic daily wage : sum of the last 3 gross salaries received before the date of interruption of work, divided by 91,25
  • Maximum Basic Daily Salary : The salary taken into account cannot exceed the monthly social security ceiling in force on the last day of the month preceding the judgement (either €3,666 per month in 2022, or €3,428 in 2021).
  • Flat rate applied by CPAM CPAM withdraws a flat rate of 21% from this basic daily wage.
  • Minimum amount and maximum IJ amount —The amount cannot be less than €9.77 not greater than €95.22 per day.

Please note

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

Payment

Daily allowances are paid every 14 days.

Paternity and foster care leave shall lead to suspension of your employment contract.

You may resign while you are on leave.

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

During the child's paternity and foster leave, you cannot be dismissed.

However, your employer may breach your contract if you are seriously faulty or unable to maintain your contract for any reason other than paternity and child-care leave.

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

  • For information on the employee-employer relationship 

    Administrative information by telephone - Allo Public Service

    The informants who answer you are from the Ministry of Labour.

    Cost: Free Service

    Attention: service not responding questions concerning unemployment compensation and the representations made to Pôle emploi, civil servants or contractors, the amount or payment of social, wage or employer contributions.

    The service is available at the following times:

    • Monday: 8:30 to 17:30
    • Tuesday: 8:30 to 12:15
    • Wednesday: 8:30 to 12:15
    • Thursday: 8:30 to 17:30
    • Friday: 1 pm to 4:15 pm

  • For information on compensation by CPAM

    Health insurance - 3646

    For information about your rights and procedures, ask a question about your file, report a change of situation or consult your refunds.

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