On 21 July 2023, new legislation instituted new rights for employees with children suffering from serious ill health or disability.
Employees now benefit from a leave of absence of five working days with full pay to carry out administrative or medical formalities. This is separate from the compassionate leave that employees could already claim for a maximum duration of 310 working days. It should be noted that a request for such compassionate leave cannot be refused by the employer but is unpaid. The employee will instead receive indemnities from the state social security fund.
Employees also cannot be dismissed during such leave of absence and compassionate leave except in case of serious misconduct or if the employer can demonstrate that it is impossible to pursue the employment contract for reasons unrelated to such leave.
The employee can also, in such cases, request to benefit from homeworking arrangements and, in the absence of a company homeworking policy, the employer will have to justify their refusal to accept such request.
Key Action Points for Human Resources and In-house Counsel
Implement a company homeworking policy or, if one is already in place, update it to cover the newly granted five leaves of absence with full pay for employees with children suffering from serious ill health and disability.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.