Give both parents six weeks paid leave after childbirth: Dutch council

The Dutch social economic council SER wants to combine maternity leave and paternity leave into one arrangement in which both parents get six weeks' paid leave after the birth of a child, NU.nl reports.

The different conditions and ways of financing that currently apply to maternity and paternity or partner leave are too complicated and insufficient, according to the council. 

The SER advises combining the two types of leave into one parental leave. Both parents will have six weeks of paid leave, and then a period in which they work less - 26 hours per work week each, according to the newspaper. The council doesn't want this to lead to increased burdens for employers, and advises the government to fund this from general resources.

Currently a new mother's partner only has two days paid leave after the birth of the child. The government plans to expand this to five days' paid leave from next year. And as of July 1st, 2020 the partner will be able to stay home for five weeks at 70 percent salary. 

Trade union FNV is positive about this advice, but thinks that paid parental leave should eventually be longer than six weeks. Still union manager Zakaria Boufangacha calls the proposal "a great step in the right direction for Dutch standards", according to NU.nl. "It should be the most normal thing in the world that fathers and mothers are maximally facilitated in the care of children", Boufangacha said.