Can an employee take paternity and childcare leave following his birth leave?

Verified 11 May 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Additional Birth Leave

An additional birth leave is created by the Social Security Financing Act for 2026 from 1er January 2026. He is added maternity, paternity and childcare leave and adoption leave. Each parent will be able to take the leave simultaneously or alternately with the other. The duration of the leave is, at the parent's choice, 1 month or 2 months.

Some application decrees must specify the conditions for granting and compensating supplementary birth leave: it shall not not possible to benefit from that leave for the moment.

This page will be updated as soon as these texts are published.

Yes, the employee can take paternity and foster care leave for his child following his birth leave. We explain the rules to know.

The birth leave and the paternity and childcare leave can be taken one after the other according to the following conditions.

Step-by-step approach

The employee must take his birth leave.

This leave is mandatory.

The duration of the birth leave is 3 working days.

The leave begins, according to the choice of the employee:

  • Either the day of the birth of his child
  • Let's say 1er working day following the day of the birth of the child.

To justify the right to birth leave, the employee must provide his employer with a copy of the birth certificate of his child.

The employee must then take paternity and foster leave following compulsory birth leave.

The duration of your paternity and foster leave for your child is 25 calendar days (or 32 days in case of multiple birth).

The paternity and foster care leave for the child includes a period of mandatory from 4 calendar days which must be taken immediately following the birth leave.

Example :

An employee whose child is born on a Saturday is granted 3 days of birth leave. Birth leave is calculated in working days. The leave therefore begins on the 1ster it is therefore held from monday to wednesday on the working day following the birth. The employee must also immediately take his 4 mandatory days of paternity leave and childcare. This paternity and childcare leave is deducted in  calendar days, from Thursday to Sunday. The employee must therefore take a cumulative leave from Monday to Sunday.

Then he stays 21 days calendars (or 28 days in the case of multiple births) paternity and foster leave.

The employee must take imperatively those 21 days in the 6 months after birth of the child.

The second period of leave of 21 days may be split.

The employee can take these 21 days in one go or in 2 periods at most.

Each period must have a minimum duration of 5 days.

Example :

The child is born on Monday, March 9, 2026. The employee can take his leave as follows 

  • Mandatory Birth Leave of 3 working days from monday 9 to wednesday 11 march 2026 included
  • Compulsory period of paternity and care leave for the child of 4 calendar days from thursday 12 to sunday 15 march 2026 included
  • Split period of paternity and foster leave for the child of 5 calendar days from monday 23 to friday 27 march 2026 inclusive then from 16 calendar days from monday 13 to tuesday 28 april 2026 included.

You must notify your employer at least 1 month before the start of paternity and foster care leave.

You specify the start and end dates of the leave you want to take.

You can make your request paternity leave and childcare before birth of your child.

FYI  

In the event of immediate hospitalization of the child after birth, specific leave may be granted.

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