How to implement the birth dividend in
more than 20 provinces, amend the population and family planning regulations, extend maternity leave and increase parental leave
□ Our reporter Pu Xiaolei
On December 3, the 27th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th Hunan Provincial People's Congress voted to pass the newly revised "Hunan Provincial Population and Family Planning Regulations", which clearly stipulated the "three-child" policy, and set up parental leave and only child Parental care leave.
Since the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress passed the decision on amending the Population and Family Planning Law in August this year, various localities have successively initiated the revision of local population and family planning regulations, and introduced intensive measures to encourage birth.
According to incomplete statistics from reporters of the Rule of Law Daily, more than 20 provinces have completed the revision work.
Among them, most provinces have extended maternity leave and clarified parental leave.
Mu Guangzong, a professor at the Institute of Population Research at Peking University, said in an interview with a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily that from the perspective of childbirth-friendliness, parental leave is undoubtedly the right approach and helps reduce the burden of parenting on the family.
But at the same time, too long holidays may also increase the labor costs of enterprises.
The government should pay attention to the interests of enterprises, and can consider using public finances to make up for the losses of enterprises, and to encourage measures to create childbirth-friendly enterprises.
"In recent years, the trend of population movement in my country has become more obvious, and the scale of the floating population has further expanded. Taking into account this problem, it is necessary to revise relevant laws in response to the common problems after the implementation of laws and regulations in various regions, and increase the increase in enterprises due to maternity leave and parental leave. Responding to issues such as the cost of the country, the relevant regulations have been implemented as a “national chess game”.” Mu Guangzong said.
More places to increase maternity benefits
According to the "Special Provisions on Labor Protection for Female Employees" formulated by the State Council, female employees enjoy 98 days of maternity leave during childbirth.
During the period of "full two-child", many places have revised the population and family planning regulations, increasing the number of days of maternity leave.
In 2016, Hunan increased the incentive maternity leave for giving birth to children in compliance with the statutory birth conditions by 60 days, Henan and Hainan by 3 months, Heilongjiang and Gansu by 82 days, and Guangdong by 80 days.
In many places, when the regulations were revised this time, except for a few places that did not adjust the number of days of maternity leave, most provinces have further extended maternity leave, mostly by 60 days.
Hebei, Zhejiang and other places also made regulations on the classification of maternity leave limits.
Hebei clarified that the extended maternity leave for the first and second children is 60 days, and the extended maternity leave for the third or more children is 90 days.
Zhejiang stipulates that, on the basis of enjoying the national maternity leave, the maternity leave for the first child is extended by 60 days, and the maternity leave for the second and third children is extended by 90 days.
In addition to extending maternity leave, the addition of parental leave is also a highlight of this round of revisions.
The newly revised Population and Family Planning Law stipulates that the state supports the establishment of parental leave in places where conditions permit.
According to this regulation, many provinces have set up parental leave, and the number of days of leave is concentrated in 5 to 15 days per year.
Hunan, Guangdong, Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guizhou, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and other places stipulate that both spouses can take childcare every year before their children are 3 years old. Otherwise, Chongqing and Anhui even relaxed their children's age to before 6 years old.
At the same time, localities have also clarified the man’s paternity leave or nursing leave, and Tianjin, Liaoning and other places have also extended the original leave.
Tianjin changed the 7-day nursing leave to 15-day paternity leave, and Liaoning extended the nursing leave from 15 to 20 days.
"Extending maternity leave and adding parental leave are conducive to better guaranteeing the physical and mental recovery of women who give birth. The clarification of parental leave and nursing leave conveys a value orientation-parenting is not only the responsibility of women, but men should also be more involved. , Take on the important task of parenting together." said Liu Junhai, a professor at Renmin University of China Law School.
How to get the holiday red envelope
Liu Hui, who works in a public institution in Beijing, is taking maternity leave. A few days ago, he asked for an extra month of leave. “After giving birth, I always feel that I don’t have enough energy. The practice of extending maternity leave and adding parental leave, It is really necessary to reduce the pressure of parenting and give me more time to adjust before returning to work.”
For these "holiday red envelopes" distributed in the regulations, people are more concerned about how these regulations are better implemented while welcoming them.
In order to promote better implementation of the regulations on extending maternity leave and adding parental leave, many places have clarified in the laws and regulations that wages, bonuses, and benefits are equal to those on-the-job employees during the leave.
For example, Beijing stipulates that during the vacation of both men and women, government agencies, enterprises, institutions, social organizations and other organizations shall not dismiss them, terminate their labor or employment contracts, and shall not lower their wages.
Jilin made it clear that while employees are enjoying marriage leave, maternity leave, nursing leave, and childcare leave, they will be treated as their normal work, and wages and bonuses will be issued as usual, and other benefits will remain unchanged.
In recent days, some localities have also released interpretations such as "ten questions and ten answers", responding to questions such as "what if the unit does not implement maternity leave and parental leave".
Relevant personnel of the Sichuan Provincial Health Commission pointed out that if the unit sets up a card, fails to implement it, or implements it insufficiently, employees of the enterprise can report their legal demands to the labor union, or protect their legal rights and interests in accordance with the labor law and other relevant regulations.
The Beijing Municipal Health Commission responded that if the unit does not implement the regulations on rewards, holidays, preferential treatment, etc., and infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of employees, the public can call 12345 and transfer from 12345 to the relevant functional departments to supervise the implementation.
When revising laws and regulations in some places, local governments are also required to formulate specific implementation measures to promote better implementation of laws and regulations.
For example, Jiangsu requires that the specific implementation measures for maternity leave, nursing leave and parental leave shall be formulated by the provincial people's government.
Tianjin clarified that the specific implementation measures for paternity leave, parental leave and nursing leave stipulated in these Regulations shall be formulated by the Municipal People's Government.
"The government should issue specific implementation measures as soon as possible, shorten the time gap for the implementation of policies, and promote the implementation of preferential measures in laws and regulations as soon as possible." said Sun Yuhua, an associate professor at East China University of Political Science and Law.
Who bears the cost of vacation
Despite this, many people are still worried that too long holidays may affect women’s employment, which is not conducive to the maintenance and development of women’s rights in the long run.
In Sun Yuhua's view, such worries have some truth. After the implementation of the three-child policy, women may take three maternity leave. Employers are most likely to consider this issue when recruiting and set up more obstacles to women's employment.
Some places have also taken this issue into consideration when revising laws and regulations.
Hunan’s current revision still maintains the 2016 “addition of 60 days of maternity leave” regulations, and did not extend the number of days of maternity leave. The effect is relatively satisfactory. Long holidays may affect women’s employment, which is not conducive to the maintenance and development of women’s rights in the long run.”
"The cost pressure caused by the extension of maternity leave and the addition of parental leave will affect the interests of employers. Therefore, to increase the enthusiasm of employers, there must be corresponding policies to solve them." Sun Yuhua said.
Guangdong gave a corresponding solution when revising the law-sharing of holiday labor costs, which was implemented in accordance with relevant national and provincial regulations.
For this idea, many experts believe that it is necessary to promote it.
"Extending maternity leave and adding parental leave will inevitably affect the interests of employers. Localities can clarify corresponding government subsidies, tax reductions and exemptions when formulating government regulations according to their own conditions, and use public finances to share the cost pressure of employers. Enhance the enthusiasm of employers, thereby promoting the formation of a long-term benign mechanism." Sun Yuhua said.
Mu Guangzong believes that while pursuing childbirth-friendliness, the interests of enterprises must not be sacrificed excessively. For this reason, relevant enterprises must be given preferential treatment in taxation and other aspects.
At the same time, it is necessary to implement the maternity subsidy policy for enterprises to strive for understanding and support.
"It is recommended that laws be amended at the national level in a timely manner to clarify tax incentives and other regulations to dispel the doubts of enterprises. Moreover, my country's current population flow is relatively large, and the amendment of the law can realize the relevant regulations and better promote the implementation of maternity welfare policies. "Mu Guangzong said.