Let’s see how the different forms of parental leave work and what are the main difficulties that work parents face
The situation of workers and workers in Italy still has many critical points, and it can also be noted when you decide to have a child.
In these cases it clearly emerges how legal protections and, above all, their concrete application, as well as the aid offered by the so -called Welfare State, They are certainly not sufficient to support parents in an important and delicate phase.
And it is also highlighted in a very clear way how many of the problems revolve around the theme of gender equalitywhich continues to represent an insurmountable obstacle for the professional and private life of many people.
Parental leave is also for fathers
As jurists note, there is a strange contrast between the fact that the gender equality between the workers and the workers was already sanctioned by the Constitution, in article 37, and theextreme slowness With which this principle has been translated into provisions capable of concretely helping all people engaged in a work activity.
The first specific rules for the protection of mothers are from the seventies of the last century e It will be necessary to wait for the 2000s because you think you insert protections and the possibility of taking advantage of parental leave also for the worker father. The largest obstacle, from this point of view, is certainly of a cultural order, because even today the idea that the parental role and the work of work, mental and physical, which entails are a mainly maternal task is widespread and is at the origin of serious social injustices.
Parental leave, maternity leave and paternity leave
We quickly review the rights of working parents, referring to the most complete information to regulatory sources, including those governing the different areas and cases.
The mother has the right to a Mandatory maternity leave which, in the absence of further problems related to pregnancy, covers 5 months. The 3 months after childbirth extend to the father in case of death or serious infirmity of the mother, or in situations of abandonment or exclusive custody. A maximum 5 months leave is also up to the father or mother in case of adoption, to be enjoyed within 5 months from the day following the entry into the family of the son or daughter.
The worker father is entitled to Mandatory paternity leave within 5 months from the birth of the child (or from the entrance to the family in the event of adoption or assignment); For 2021, it is 10 days, to which an optional can be added.
The parental leave (i.e. the possibility, for a parent, to be absent from work) It is up to both the mother and the fatherfor a maximum of 6 months for each parent, within the twelfth year of life of the boy or girl and for a maximum of 10 months between the two parents, who can be raised to 11 in certain conditions. The child’s disease permits are up to the father and mother without limits up to the 3 years of the minor and amount to 5 days per parent up to the children of the child.
Beyond parental leave: the rules against discrimination
Let’s focus in particular on some rules included in the legislative decree of 26 March 2001, N. 151, called Consolidated text of the legislative provisions regarding the protection and support of maternity and paternity (which resumes, in turn, the previous rules), and which aim to avoid some discriminatory conductwhose victims are above all the workers.
The prohibition of discrimination is underlined on the basis of sex, reiterating how motherhood or paternity should not be the cause of less favorable treatment in the workplacefor example in the attribution of duties or career progression.
In the same way, except specific cases, it is not possible to fire a worker from the beginning of the pregnancy period until the age of the first year of the child or girl (the prohibition of dismissal It also applies in case of assignment or adoption). The dismissed worker has the right to be reinstated in his job by presenting, within 90 days of dismissal, the documentation relating to his state of pregnancy or puerperium.
Any voluntary resignation presented by the worker in pregnancyeither by the worker or worker during the first three years of his child’s life, or in the first three years in the event of a minor in custody or adopted, are subject to the validation of the inspection service of the Ministry of Labor. This is because, as we will see, the cases of abuses perpetrated above all against the workers are not rare.
In pregnancy and up to 7 months after childbirth women cannot be used for dangerous, tiring or unhealthy works and Risk exposure should be carefully evaluated taking into account these specific conditions. In the same way, in pregnancy and for the first year of the child’s life The worker does not carry out nocturnal work. The worker also has the right to paid permits to carry out the control exams for monitoring pregnancy and for specialist visits.
During periods of parental leave, mother and father they have the right to keep their jobs and to return to the end of the same, without the absence involving state property or another form of reduction of one’s rights.
The rights denied and openly violated
The cases of violation of the rights of law of workers and workers in relation to pregnancy and maternity/paternity are still many. The pandemic emergencyas we have already had the opportunity to highlight in this article, has further aggravated the situationwhich sees women as main victims.
The gender gap (i.e. the gap of rights that is recorded between men and women, with a considerable impact also on the economic aspect) is evident, under therapy, also in the recruitment phase for a job. There are still numerous cases of companies not willing to hire women who are supposed to decide to have children. Although the questions in this sense are expressly prohibited during the work interviews, because they are seriously discriminatory, It is a practice still frequently recorded, even in implicit or admitted formsas he highlighted, for example, an investigation carried out by Save the Children (1).
There are many workers who report to receive pressuremore or less direct, to avoid planning pregnancies by employers and renouncing permits or hourly flexibility for motherhood. The right to return comes, in fact, reduced by a frequent state property: The workers are used for the performance of tasks perhaps similar to those previously covered only on paper, but, in fact, less qualifying and more penalizing on the level of career progression, which is seriously endangered.
Many report that they have immediately immediately mobbing and to have been induced to give up work. The problem of “voluntary” resignation (but in reality caused by a seriously damaged attitude of the dignity of the worker) is still widespread (2), together with the persistence of requests contrary to the law such as that of the signature of white resignation sheets.
There are still phenomena such as the unbalanced use of parental leave between men and women. Although over time it has been recorded A greater request, by the Fathers, to take advantage of the parental leavethe influence of the culture that assigns the role of care of children in clear prevalence to the woman still makes her weight strongly felt and several working fathers refer to direct or indirect pressures to avoid parental leavestill making the goal of equality very far.
