Refusal of parental leave, deduction of subsidies for taking parental leave, dismissal for taking leave to accompany children for medical treatment... How to solve the problem of "difficult to take parental leave" caused by disputes over "dads" taking parental leave? Reading tips: The government supports the establishment of parental leave in places with conditions, but many netizens have reported that it is difficult to take leave. Some units have lower acceptance of male employees taking parental leave, and some companies even treat leave as absenteeism. In August 2021, the newly revised Population and Family Planning Law explicitly stated that the state supports the establishment of parental leave in places where conditions permit. Subsequently, most provinces across the country have successively introduced local regulations based on this, providing parents with 5-15 days of parental leave per year before their children reach the age of 3. Chongqing, Anhui and other places have even relaxed the age limit for children to 6 years old. However, a survey by reporters found that many netizens have reported that it is difficult to take leave, and some employers either reject requests or set multiple thresholds. Among them, influenced by traditional gender concepts, some units have a lower acceptance of male employees taking parental leave, and some companies even treat leave as absenteeism and terminate labor contracts on this grounds. It sounds tempting to take a break, but the reporter found that in some cases, workers applied for parental leave, but the company treated them as personal leave and annual leave, and deducted their corresponding wages and subsidies. In a case concluded by the People's Court of Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province this year, Mr. Liu's child was born in June 2021. He requested parental leave from the company in 2023 and submitted documents such as the child's birth certificate. The company rejected his application and subsequently designated his 4-day leave as annual leave, deducting the corresponding annual leave subsidy. Mr. Liu filed a lawsuit with Kunshan Court after arbitration, demanding that the company pay for the remaining 4 days of annual leave and 6 days of parental leave in 2023. The "Implementation Plan for Optimizing the Birth Policy and Promoting Long term Balanced Population Development" released by Jiangsu Province clearly stipulates the promotion of the parental leave system. Before the child turns 3 years old, both husband and wife are entitled to 10 days of parental leave each year. The court ruled that the company's actions had harmed Mr. Liu's legitimate rights and interests, and therefore supported Mr. Liu's claim that the 4-day leave he took in 2023 should be taken as parental leave. At the same time, according to relevant laws and regulations, currently only statutory annual leave has not been fully taken, and employers need to convert their salary and benefits. Therefore, Mr. Liu's proposal for the remaining 6 days of parental leave and other holiday wages was not supported. In another case, a male employee was dismissed by the company for taking parental leave. In April 2021, Mr. Zhang's wife gave birth to a daughter. In May 2023, Mr. Zhang requested parental leave and the employer approved his 5-day leave. In the same month, Mr. Zhang applied for another 5-day parental leave on the grounds that his young daughter fell ill and was left unattended due to a sudden family emergency. The enterprise refused to take leave on the grounds of tight order tasks, and both parties had multiple unsuccessful negotiations. Mr. Zhang has not been on duty since May 22nd and accompanied his daughter to the hospital for treatment. The company believes that Mr. Zhang is absent from work, and the company's rules and regulations stipulate that absenteeism for 3 days can terminate the labor contract. On May 24th, the company dismissed Mr. Zhang on the grounds of serious violations of rules and regulations. Mr. Zhang then applied for labor arbitration and demanded that the company pay compensation for the illegal termination of the labor contract. The labor dispute arbitration institution of Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone believes that Mr. Zhang's reason for taking leave is legitimate. Although there are some deficiencies in the leave process, it should be distinguished from unjustified absenteeism. The company has not provided evidence to prove that there is a situation where leave is not allowed due to tight order tasks, so compensation should be paid to Mr. Zhang. Male parenting is both a right and a responsibility. Why is parenting so difficult? In the view of Li Lingyun, director of the Institute of Social Law at East China University of Political Science and Law, on the one hand, the establishment of parental leave has increased the labor costs of enterprises; On the other hand, in many regions, regulations are not mandatory enough and legal responsibilities are unclear. Parental leave is positioned as paid leave, but the cost of the leave has not been reasonably shared. ”Li Lingyun analyzed that according to the regulations in most regions, the wages during parental leave are paid by the employer and treated according to the normal attendance of the worker. In addition, it should be considered that some provinces require that if a worker has more than one 0-3 year old child, parental leave can be stacked, which means that the labor cost of the enterprise is higher. Against the backdrop of increased holidays such as marriage leave and maternity leave, the enthusiasm of employers is naturally insufficient. At the level of legal norms, Li Lingyun told reporters that many provinces have set parental leave as a mandatory obligation for employers in local regulations, while some places give employers the right to make independent decisions, and some regions only regard parental leave as an "advocacy" and "encouragement" policy. In provinces where parental leave is mandatory, many do not specify the adverse consequences and legal risks that employers must bear if they do not provide leave, and only require local governments and labor supervision departments to order corrections. If there is a lack of effective supervision mechanisms and companies only rely on voluntary implementation, parental leave may become a 'paper welfare', "said Li Lingyun. Regarding the practical difficulties faced by male employees taking parental leave, Professor Yang Fuwei from the Law School of Southwest University told a reporter from the Workers' Daily that the reason why the country has introduced parental leave is not only to increase fertility and reduce parenting pressure, but also to protect men's parenting rights and encourage them to take on parenting responsibilities. This not only benefits fathers to participate more in their children's growth, but also helps reduce employer gender bias and create a more fair workplace environment for women. However, in reality, influenced by the traditional gender division of labor model, some companies believe that mothers are the main caregivers of infants and young children aged 0-3, and therefore show a lack of understanding or resistance towards male employees taking parental leave. If parental leave is alienated as exclusive to women during implementation, it may exacerbate gender discrimination in the workplace, be detrimental to employment equality, and lead to the absence of fatherhood. This is clearly contrary to the original intention of the policy and must be corrected. ”Yang Fuwei told reporters. Exploring the establishment of a shared vacation cost model "To promote the smooth implementation of maternity leave, the first step is to reduce the labor costs of enterprises in this regard. ”Li Lingyun believes that in addition to statutory maternity leave, the wages and other labor costs for maternity leave such as female maternity leave, male paternity leave, and parental leave stipulated in local regulations should also be paid by the maternity insurance fund. Yang Fuwei suggested changing the financing model of maternity insurance that is only paid by units, exploring the establishment of a multi-party sharing model that is mainly paid by employers, combined with government subsidies and individual payments, expanding the sources of maternity insurance premiums, and enhancing the sustainability of the fund. Sharing costs is a prerequisite for effectively implementing parental leave. Based on this, various regions can consider turning incentive policies into mandatory policies and establishing certain penalties. ”Li Lingyun said that for parental leave, the companionship of parents cannot be measured by money, and corrective measures should not only be monetary penalties, but should be ensured through labor inspections and other means to ensure that the leave is fully implemented. Of course, for workers, taking parental leave should not be done arbitrarily. Li Lingyun reminds workers to follow the company's leave process when taking parental leave, communicate with the unit in advance about the leave plan, and not forcefully take leave regardless of the unit's production and operation situation. She also stated that if a child falls ill or experiences an unexpected event that requires urgent treatment or companionship from parents, the employer should try to grant leave as much as possible. Enterprises should exercise their management rights in good faith and not use methods such as raising approval thresholds or linking leave with performance evaluations to coerce employees into giving up their leave. They should also not transfer, reduce salaries, or dismiss employees after they return from leave. ”Yang Fuwei said. In terms of vacation arrangements, Yang Fuwei stated that currently, the scope of parental leave only includes traditional workers and has not yet covered groups such as workers in new forms of employment. In the future, it may be considered to expand the scope of applicable subjects in a hierarchical and phased manner to fully protect the rights and interests of workers. In Yang Fuwei's view, reversing traditional parenting concepts is difficult to achieve overnight. He suggested that relevant departments should increase their publicity efforts on policies such as parental leave and paternity leave, further enhance the legal awareness and social responsibility of employers, and further consolidate the social consensus of both parents to jointly raise children. (New Society)