Filenews 28 December 2022 -by Adamos Adamou
Only last Friday, applications for paid parental leave, the new institution aimed at work-life balance, were released under an EU directive, although the legislation adopting the directive has been formally in force since 16 December.
What was expected for the preparation of the applications for parental leave allowance, which are now available to the public, was the publication of the relevant regulations, which were adopted on 2 December, together with the relevant bills on parental leave. The legislation was published in mid-December but the regulations last week and, as mentioned, as of Friday is now on the website of the Social Insurance Services of the Ministry of Labor for completion and the relevant application for benefit/granting of assimilated parental leave insurance. For the time being, the relevant application must be completed manually and sent to the SSG but in the near future it will be possible to submit the application for paid parental leave electronically as well.
We would remind you that parental leave existed in the past, but no allowance was paid for it.
Now, with the package of bills approved in early December to adopt the EU directive, parents with children up to eight years old will be entitled to 18 weeks' parental leave, of which eight weeks will be paid, i.e. a relevant parental leave allowance will be paid for them by the CTA, approximately at the level of other allowances of the Fund. The maximum parental leave per year is limited to 5 weeks, paid or unpaid.
In the first phase, the parental leave allowance will be paid for a total period of 6 weeks, until 01/08/2024 and will be increased to 8, from 02/08/2024 to each parent for each child. But the institution will start by allowing parental leave allowance to be provided for three weeks rather than five per year.
Specifically, until 31/12/2023 each beneficiary will be able to receive up to three weeks of parental leave allowance. From 01/01/2024 to 31/12/2024 beneficiaries will be able to receive up to 4 weeks parental leave allowance and from 01/01/2025 an allowance for five weeks.
Beneficiaries
Beneficiaries of parental leave allowance are working parents, in the public and private sector, provided that on the date of submission of the application they have completed 12 months of employment within the last 24 months. Any worker who intends to exercise the right to parental leave shall give notice to his employer three weeks before the date of commencement of parental leave, informing him of the starting and ending date of such leave. In the case of a disabled child, the duration of payment of the parental leave allowance shall be increased in proportion to the child's invalidity. In addition, the allowance and leave in case of a disabled child is paid until the eighteenth (18th) year of age of the child.