New parental leave rules may take effect next year

• By Sam Garcia / Staff writer, with CNA

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The government is aiming to implement early next year new parental leave policies that would extend eligibility to parents of children younger than nine, increase prenatal checkup leave to 10 working days and provide 12 weeks of maternity leave, Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) said yesterday.

President William Lai (賴清德) in May announced a new family support policy to help counter Taiwan’s falling birthrate, including extending maternity leave from eight weeks to 12 weeks, replacing flexible parental leave with childrearing leave and doubling paternity leave from seven days to 14 days.

Negotiations on the provisions are ongoing, Hung said, adding that they are working to bring the policies into effect early next year.

Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han speaks at the legislature’s Social Welfare and Environmental Hygiene Committee meeting yesterday.

Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party said that maternity leave should be extended further to 14 weeks.

Hung said that while the International Labor Organization (ILO) does recommend 14 weeks, that figure includes leave before the baby is born, such as prenatal checkups.

When the Ministry of Labor’s proposed prenatal checkup leaves and maternity leaves are combined, the total is about 14 weeks of leave, in line with ILO standards, he said.

The ministry proposed revised rules on Oct. 21, under which women would have 10 days of prenatal checkup leave from the start of pregnancy until childbirth, in addition to 12 weeks of maternity leave, bringing the total leave period close to 14 weeks.

Any unused prenatal checkup leave could be carried over to maternity leave after childbirth, the ministry said.

The ministry has also agreed to extend eligibility for childrearing leave from parents of children younger than seven to those with children younger than nine.