Applying for care leave for a caesarean section? Ask our lawyer!

Questioner

Good day, My wife is having a caesarean section with our second child. Now I wanted to apply for care leave for this. According to the collective labor agreement, I receive 70% continued pay or I pay 30% in vacation hours. However, my employer says that care leave does not apply to a caesarean section. So my wife is having a c-section (abdominal surgery), we have a 2 year old and maternity care is only for a few days. Can my employer determine whether my wife and child need help and refuse care leave?

Lawyer

You are entitled to short-term leave if you are the only one who can provide care and therefore if you cannot call on other “trusted” persons such as a grandpa/grandma, your partner or on the basis of a statutory regulation, then you cannot appeal to this regulation. For example, you cannot receive care leave during the period in which you can apply for maternity care because care leave is not intended as a replacement for maternity care. However, if the maternity care is away and there is no one to help your spouse, then you can apply for care leave for the time needed to provide care.