Expected ruling from the Constitutional Court (TC). The Court of Guarantees rejects that a mother who has had a child alone can double the weeks of leave to care for the newborncurrently there are 16 per parent. However, he justifies this decision in that it is the only thing currently included in the law because “unjustifiably” omits the situation of single-parent families. The court urges the legislator to change the rule so that these families have a place in it.
The Constitutional Court, in a ruling this Wednesday, points out that neither the Workers’ Statute, which marks the weeks corresponding to birth, nor the General Social Security Law that establishes this leave as a protected situation “provides for a specific regime for the enjoyment of birth and child care leave, as well as the receipt of the corresponding Social Security benefits, within a single-parent family”.
“This means that, in a case like the one now presented, in which there is only one parent, who is the biological mother, the suspension of the employment contract with reservation of position is recognized only for the worker, the biological mother, for 16 weeks, of which the six uninterrupted weeks immediately after childbirth are mandatory,” says the statement issued by the Constitutional Court.
According to the Court, the only thing the current law pursues with these 16-week permits for mothers and fathers is conciliation and real and effective equality between men and women. However, it does not provide for the possibility of the woman extending her leave for the period that would have corresponded to the other parent or the impact this has on children born in single-parent families. “It is an omission without justification,” criticizes the Court.
For this reason, the court urges the legislator to “carry out the pertinent modifications” to repair the violation that occurs to minors born in single-parent families, who will have less time of care from their parent. According to the ruling, the legislator “does not exceed the canon of reasonableness and proportionality, by completely ignoring the negative consequences that such a measure produces on boys and girls born in single-parent families.”
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