After examining the pension reform project, the senators retained an amendment in favor of mothers. What is it about ? Is maternity leave also taken into account? We take stock.
This Tuesday, February 28, the Senate examined in committee the draft pension reform of the government. Among the amendments that have been adopted, one concerns the mothers. The senators, mostly on the right, want to introduce into the reform a measure to grant a “5% surcharge” for mothers who have had a full career, from 2 children from the age of 63. The bill, with this new amendment, will be examined again in public session by the Senate as of this Thursday, March 2. In this pension reform project, the executive first announced that the parental leave would be taken into account, but lately another progress concerning the maternity leave was presented. On February 17, the government tabled an amendment so that women can add their maternity leave allowances to the calculation of their retirement pension, AFP reported. An idea originally proposed by the MoDem party.
What will change for parental leave with the pension reform?
On January 10, 2023, Elisabeth Borne indicated that the pension reform would be “more just” for mothers who stop working to care for their children in the context of long careers. In effect, parents who take parental leave will now be able to include up to 4 quarters in the retirement calculationaccording to the law. “Before this project, periods of parental leave were not taken into account in the duration to benefit from it. This will now be the case“, said the Prime Minister.
What amendments have been tabled for parental leave?
Among the 7,000 amendments tabled by parliamentarians, several relate to parental leave. MPs from the Democrat group, including MP Philippe Vigier, are thus proposing tolowering the legal retirement age per child by two quarters, up to a limit of eight quarters, which is two years. Another amendment proposes the integration of one trimester per child for the calculation of the premium (increase in the basic retirement pension, for the additional quarters contributed by insured persons who continue to work after the legal retirement age) within the limit of four quarters. It remains to be seen whether or not these amendments will be retained by the Senate, which is examining the text of the law in principle until March 12, 2023.
Currently, parents who have taken full-time parental leave to take care of their children can benefit from additional quarters of pension insurance which will therefore be granted to them under the general social security scheme. This is “increase in the duration of pension insurance” specifies the government.
How many additional terms can you have after parental leave?
The number of additional terms corresponds to the duration of parental leave. For example, for every 90 days of parental leave, you are entitled to an additional quarter of pension insurance.
When a month has 28, 29, 30 or 31 days, there are 30 days of parental leave. Finally, the number of quarters is rounded up. To calculate it, for example, if you took parental leave for 25 months and 23 days: 25 months x 30 days/90 = 8.33 rounded up to 9).
To benefit from additional terms after parental leave, you must apply to the pension and occupational health insurance fund. You will need to provide a parental leave certificate specifying the dates of your parental leave. You can submit it at the end of your leave, and request it from your employer. It will then be presented to your pension and occupational health insurance fund.