Do not jeopardize the entire device, but reduce its range. While the Senate examines from this Monday the Social Security Finance Bill (PLFSS), the LR majority will defend amendments in order to partially reverse the doubling of paternity leave from fourteen to twenty-eight days. Voted almost unanimously (only Jean-Luc Mélenchon and an LFI member abstained) at first reading by the National Assembly on October 23, including by the seven LR deputies present, this societal reform must come into force from July 1, 2021 .
In the viewfinder: the first seven days compulsory
If the Republicans group at the Luxembourg Palace specifies that each senator will benefit from his freedom to vote, its president, Bruno Retailleau has co-signed an amendment of the senator (LR) of Eure-et-Loir Chantal Deseyne who repeals the compulsory nature of the taking of the first seven days, also adopted by the National Assembly. A measure that “guarantees that all fathers can take it whatever their situation”, welcomed Emmanuel Macron on September 23. According to a report from the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (Igas), 80% of men on permanent contracts take this paternity leave, against only 48% of CDDs and 13% of job seekers.
“The child needs his parents in the attachment relationship he forms during the first days of his life. However, compulsory leave can be complicated to implement in certain companies, in particular very small and medium-sized enterprises ”, argue the signatories of the LR senatorial amendment. Companies will finance the first three days, as is already the case today with birth leave. “This compulsory nature can put in difficulty companies but also young fathers who do not want to take this leave”, explains to Parisian Chantal Deseyne.
“There will be no profit if it is imposed”
“Personally, I find it good that fathers take this leave, but there will be no benefit if it is imposed. Some fathers are very willing to give time to their newborn children, others do not want it, ”pleads the parliamentarian. “Are my children and yours less educated or fulfilled because their father was not with them during the first days of their life? »She asks.
“The principle of lengthening is not to be called into question on the merits but it is more its temporality and its lack of supervision that questions”, specifies Senator LR from Isère Frédérique Puissat, who co-signed the Deseyne amendment. She has some filed another in order to restrict the extension of paternity leave to employees on CDI or a minimum CDD of six months. One way to reduce the overall bill for the reform estimated at 260 million euros next year, then 520 million in a full year.
“This is a media measure that hides the real issue which is the abyssal deficit of Social Security, and in particular of its sickness branch”, which will finance it, argues the senator. The extension of paternity leave will “only worsen the deficit” at a time when “there is a risk of not even being able to pay pensions”, against a backdrop of economic and health disaster, continues the elected … not so far as to propose blocking the extension of the leave.
VIDEO. Paternity leave: “There will be seven compulsory days” announces Emmanuel Macron
Because the LREM majority, which had presented its reform as a societal progress, would not hesitate to immediately denounce a retrograde right. “We can be taken to task on this, recognizes Frédérique Puissat about the amendments defended by the LR majority in the Senate. But when it comes to parenthood, I don’t have any advice for anyone… ”
“In practice, we know how it goes”
The senatorial right will not present a united front on the subject anyway. Thus, the senator of the Alpes-Maritimes Alexandra Borchio-Fontimp, member of the Delegation for women’s rights in the Upper House, defends the mandatory nature of the seven days. “If we want things to really change in practice, it is necessary so that the activation of the law does not rely on individuals. “
“In practice, we know how it goes: there are environments where it will be possible, facilitated by the employer, and others not, where it will be slowed down by internal discourse. Making this period optional would therefore be to enact a law at several speeds and not be equal in the face of the law, ”she concludes.
In the National Assembly, at first reading, even the very conservative deputy Emmanuelle Ménard had voted for reform. “I have always said that the father is important in the family! “, She justifies herself, in ironic reference to… her firm opposition to the PMA for all.
Original article by : www.leparisien.fr
