Changes to parental leave and family time

In order to implement the EU Work-life Balance Directive, the National Council decided to amend the Maternity Protection Act and the Paternity Leave Act with the aim of promoting a fairer division of caretaking responsibilities between men and women.

An overview of the most important changes:

• If only one parent goes on parental leave, the parental leave is now reduced from 24 to 22 months.
  However, if both parents divide the parental leave (whereby at least two months of parental leave must be taken in each case), the granted time period is extended. The parental leave may then continue until the end of the 24th month of life of the child.

• No disadvantage for single parents.
  In these cases, the entitlement to parental leave remains unchanged, still amounting to 24 months. The change in the parental leave provisions will also have no effect on the early parental leave for fathers (“papamonat”).

• Doubling of the family time bonus for fathers.
  nstead of EUR 23.91 per day for one month, the bonus will now be EUR 47.82 per day. Fathers receive the family time bonus if they enter into family time, such as the “papamonat” or a special leave (without salary) that is agreed on with the employer.

• The changes to the parental leave and family time bonus are to come into effect on November 1st, 2023.