There was a news sometime back that Germany will implement two weeks of paid paternity leave for fathers from 2024 start, as per EU directive.

I think it has not became a law yet, do we know if it will be implemented this year or is it something that generally passed as law in end of the year ?

Ps: I’m new to Germany so don’t know how things work here .

I’m referring to article to avoid confusion:

https://www.thelocal.de/20221128/new-fathers-in-germany-to-receive-paid-paternity-leave-starting-in-2024

by Head-Leader6707

3 comments

  1. How is this different from the up to 12 months paid parental leave fathers can already chose to take?

  2. Isn’t that about a *minimum of available* paternal leave? Parental leave does not discriminate by the gender of the parent in Germany, and it’s (up to) way longer than a measly 2 weeks.

  3. In case someone is confused by the date of the thelocal article. The directive wasn’t passed in July 2022, but published in June 2019. They are talking about [Directive 2019/1158](https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32019L1158), whose Article 4 provides:
    “1. Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that fathers or, where and insofar as recognised by national law, equivalent second parents, have the right to paternity leave of 10 working days that is to be taken on the occasion of the birth of the worker’s child. Member States may determine whether to allow paternity leave to be taken partly before or only after the birth of the child and whether to allow such leave to be taken in flexible ways.
    2. The right to paternity leave shall not be made subject to a period of work qualification or to a length of service qualification.
    3. The right to paternity leave shall be granted irrespective of the worker’s marital or family status, as defined by national law.”
    Payment is provided in Article 8(2): “[…]such payment or allowance shall guarantee an income at least equivalent to that which the worker concerned would receive in the event of a break in the worker’s activities on grounds connected with the worker’s state of health, subject to any ceiling laid down in national law. Member States may make the right to a payment or an allowance subject to periods of previous employment, which shall not exceed six months immediately prior to the expected date of the birth of the child.”

    The Directive was supposed to be implemented by 2 August 2022. There seem to be quite some complications with that, since the Commission already sent reasoned opinions to France, Czechia, Spain, Ireland, Cyprus and Belgium.

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