Organic Law of the Right to Human Care

 

The Organic Law of the Right to Human Care, published in Supplement No. 309 of the Official Gazette on May 12, 2023, establishes a legal framework to guarantee the right to care for children and share parental responsibility. Additionally, the law creates several paid and unpaid leaves and permits aimed at ensuring the job stability of pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, fathers, and adoptive parents.

The main novelty of this law is the creation of new leaves and permits for mothers and fathers, as well as the extension of others that were already contemplated in the Labor Code:

• Human Care Leave: Unpaid leave for employees to care for themselves and others.
• Paid Maternity Leave: Maintains the paid leave of twelve (12) weeks for childbirth, with an additional ten (10) days in case of multiple births.
• Unpaid Maternity Leave: Extended from nine (9) to fifteen (15) months, counted from the end of the paid maternity leave. Both fathers and mothers can benefit from this leave.
• Paid Paternity Leave: Extended paid leave of fifteen (15) days for the birth of a child.
• Paid Breastfeeding Leave: Two (2) hours per day for the care of the newborn for fifteen (15) months, counted from the end of the paid maternity leave. The father can also enjoy this leave under the same conditions if it is justified that the mother is unable to breastfeed.
• Maternity and Paternity Leave for Adoptive Mothers and Fathers: Thirty (30) days of leave counted from the departure of the child from the institution responsible for institutional adoption.
• Paid Breastfeeding Leave or Permit for Adoptive Mothers and Fathers: Fifteen (15) months counted after the twelve (12) weeks following the presumed date of the child’s birth until the child reaches eighteen (18) months of age.

Care centers: Employers must provide breastfeeding support rooms with appropriate conditions for the extraction and storage of breast milk. They are also required to offer childcare services for workers with children up to five years old. If this is not possible, they must facilitate access to these facilities through agreements with centers near the workplace.

Temporary contracts: Temporary contracts entered into with a new employee for the purpose of replacing the employee taking unpaid leave or permit for childcare will be exempt from the 35% hourly wage increase provided for in Article 17 of the Labor Code for temporary contracts.

 

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