Experts suggest that the mandatory leave should be increased, and the salary during the period should be paid by the maternity insurance fund to reduce the burden on enterprises
Reporter Zhao Ang
"We have two children, and my daughter-in-law's maternity leave and vacation salary can be guaranteed every time, but I have never taken paternity leave, no one in the company has mentioned it, and I don't know how to take it." A few days ago, Mr. Zhou, who works in a private enterprise in Beijing, told reporters that there are many "grandfathers" in the company who are in the same situation as themselves, but many male employees have not only not taken paternity leave, but even "have not heard of it."
With the increase in the proportion of multi-child families, how to take paternity leave, how long it can be taken, and how to take it smoothly have become a concern for many employees.
There is no dare to ask for leave
Since the introduction of the three-child birth policy by the state in August last year, various localities have successively launched the revision of local population and family planning regulations, intensively introduced measures to encourage childbirth, and increased or extended paternity leave for men is one of them. The reporter combed and found that after the revision of the policy in various places, the number of days of paternity leave for men ranged from 15 days to 30 days, and most places were 15 days.
"Paternity leave helps ease the burden on parenting families and allows men to be better involved in the parenting process." Talking about the original intention of the establishment of paternity leave, Shen Jianfeng, dean of the Law School of the China Institute of Labor Relations, said.
The research group of Professor Lu Xin of Jinan University, through the systematic sorting, statistics and analysis of the policies to encourage fertility in more than 110 countries, found that paid leave is currently the most widely used and effective measure in various countries, followed by subsidies, childcare services, protection of employment rights and interests, and tax reductions.
At present, the paternity leave system has been covered in enterprises. According to the "2022 Talent Demand and Development Environment Report of Listed Companies" recently released by Zhaopin Recruitment, the recruitment scale of listed companies has recovered rapidly after the new crown pneumonia epidemic, and the recruitment salary and benefits have advantages, of which the paternity leave coverage rate of male employees is 87. 5%, about 5 percentage points higher than that of non-listed companies.
But in reality, many male employees do not enjoy this benefit. Previous surveys conducted by the Beijing Federation of Trade Unions showed that 41. 78% of the interviewed employees have not taken paternity leave, and 39% of the interviewed employees do not know whether the employer provides paternity leave. Although some employees know that the unit has paternity leave, they are worried about the impact of work and actively choose not to rest, and the proportion of which has reached 64. 53％。
In the interview, many male employees said that they did not dare to ask for paternity leave, and chose to accompany their wives and babies in the form of annual leave, personal leave, and overtime leave. "During the confinement period of the daughter-in-law, even if there is a sister-in-law, there must always be someone in the family to coordinate, and it is inevitable to ask for leave." Mr. Guo, who was just promoted to "Grandpa" last year, told reporters that he was using his annual leave at that time. "Because no one in the company takes leave in this name, I am also worried that taking paternity leave will affect my income and evaluation and promotion."
Who pays the holiday wages
In Shen Jianfeng's view, one of the reasons why employees dare not ask for leave and enterprises are reluctant to approve it is "who pays the wages during the holiday period".
According to the "Special Provisions on the Labor Protection of Female Employees" promulgated by the State Council, the maternity allowance for female employees during maternity leave shall be paid by the maternity insurance fund in accordance with the standard of the average monthly wage of the employees of the employer in the previous year.
"Men's paternity leave wages are paid by enterprises. The burden on enterprises has increased, and the enthusiasm of male employees to take paternity leave will also decrease. Shen Jianfeng said.
On March 7, the Haidian District People's Court of Beijing Municipality issued a legal case related to paternity leave. In one case, the company claimed that the employee had taken paternity leave and no longer enjoyed the annual leave, and the judgment paid the employee untaken annual leave wages; in another case, the enterprise had paid the employee the normal attendance wage during the untaken paternity leave, and the employee demanded that the enterprise pay additional economic compensation for the untaken paternity leave, which had no legal basis.
In view of the problem of wage payment during paternity leave, during the two sessions of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress this year, the Beijing Municipal Federation of Trade Unions submitted a sectoral proposal calling for the wages and benefits of employees during paternity leave to be changed from "paid by the employer" to "paid by the maternity insurance fund" to reduce the economic burden of the employer.
In addition, the reporter noted that the laws and regulations applicable to maternity leave and paternity leave are different, not only reflected in the rank of laws and regulations, but also in the degree of illegal punishment for enterprises.
Maternity leave is explicitly enshrined in the Labour Code, and "female employees enjoy maternity leave of not less than ninety days for childbirth". At present, the provisions of paternity leave are reflected in the provincial population and family planning regulations, and the title of this holiday is different in different provinces, some are called "paternity leave", and some are called "nursing leave".
Shen Jianfeng said that under the existing legal and regulatory framework, even if the employer does not approve the paternity leave of male employees, the corresponding illegal costs are also low, which makes it difficult for male employees to obtain effective rights and interests even if they make paternity leave claims.
"Rigidity" should also be enhanced
In addition to the issue of wage payment, experts believe that whether paternity leave is "rigid", whether the number of vacation days and related treatment are uniform, also affects the actual landing of paternity leave.
"The establishment of paternity leave enables male and female employees to be treated in a balanced manner on the issue of maternity leave, which helps to reduce employment discrimination against women." Shen Jianfeng said.
However, in the investigation, Shen Jianfeng found such a situation: some enterprises allow male employees to transfer the untaken paternity leave to the woman as an increased maternity leave. "This is likely to aggravate employment discrimination against women, which is contrary to the original intention of the establishment of paternity leave, and the mandatory paternity leave should be increased."
During the two sessions of the National People's Congress this year, Lu Xin suggested extending the paternity leave for men. In her view, the increase in the number of days of maternity leave and paternity leave between men and women will lead to a further increase in the impact of male and female workers on their work as a result of childbirth.
The reporter combed and found that at present, the number of paternity leave days and treatment across the country are different. For example, Beijing Municipality stipulates that "male employees enjoy paternity leave for 15 days", Hunan Province stipulates that "the duration of spouse nursing leave is 20 days", while Henan Province stipulates that "one month of spouse nursing leave is granted". In terms of treatment, some provinces regard paternity leave as "regarded as attendance", while others stipulate that "wages are paid accordingly and do not affect full attendance".
"The differences in the wording of the regulations of various provinces have left room for enterprises to operate, which may affect the treatment of employees such as full attendance awards and year-end awards." In Shen Jianfeng's view, the differences stipulated by various localities are not conducive to the landing of the system, and the length of paternity leave should be similar to the maternity leave model, that is, the number of days and standards in the country are relatively uniform, and there is a certain floating space in various places according to the actual situation.
The reporter found in the interview that at present, enterprises have begun to realize that paternity leave is one of the treatments that men value when they seek employment.
"Now, many job seekers will ask about the company's paternity leave regulations, especially male job seekers around the age of 30, including many backbone talents that the company intends to introduce. Therefore, the company not only regards paternity leave as a manifestation of humanistic care, but also as a competitive advantage when recruiting. Mr. Ding, who is engaged in human resources work in an enterprise in Beijing, told reporters, "The company has a paternity leave system, which is easier to attract talents." ”