Can an employee take paternity and childcare leave following his birth leave?
Verified 01 June 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
Yes, the employee can take paternity and childcare leave 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 care leave following compulsory birth leave.
The duration of your paternity and childcare leave is 25 calendar days (or 32 days in case of multiple birth).
The paternity and foster care leave of the child includes a period 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. 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 childcare 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 in the following way
- 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 childcare leave.
You specify the start and end dates of the leave you want to take.
You can make your request paternity and childcare leave before birth of your child.
FYI
In the event of immediate hospitalization of the child after birth, specific leave may be granted.
Please note
Following his birth leave and his paternity and childcare leave, the employee can benefit from the additional birth leave.
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The informants who answer you belong to the ministry responsible for labor.
Paternity and childcare leave