Prague, Jan 31 (CTK) – Czech fathers can take seven days off work after their baby is born as of Thursday and they can go on paternity leave anytime during the first six weeks after the birth of their offspring.
All fathers who pay sickness insurance will receive 70 percent of the base income during their paternity leave, which is the same level that mothers on maternity leave get. The maximum sum that the state pays to a man for a seven-day paternity leave is 8,575 crowns, or 1,225 crowns per day.
All employees have sickness insurance as their employers are obliged to pay it, while for the self-employed it is optional.
Czech Social Security Administration (CSSZ) spokeswoman Jana Buranova said it is not clear how many fathers will want to use the opportunity to go on paternity leave.
“It is crucial that the man is registered as the father of the child in the book of births according to the law on the register of births and deaths. It is of no importance whether he and the mother are husband and wife or whether they live together,” Buranova said.
She said paternity leave also applies to adoptive parents, foster parents and registered partners in whose care a court placed a child.
Over 9,000 babies per month are born in the country with a population of 10.5 million.
The first labour and social affairs minister to call for the introduction of a paternity leave was Petr Necas (right-wing Civic Democrats, ODS) in the late 2000s, but the plan was scrapped due to the global financial crisis and the austerity measures that the Czech government adopted in reaction to it.
The plan was finally pushed through by Michaela Marksova (Social Democrats, CSSD) in the previous election term that ended last autumn.
