Parliament approves three months’ maternity leave – Mozambique

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Parliament approves three months’ maternity leave – Mozambique

2:41 CAT | 06 Apr 2017

File photo / Maternity leave in Mozambique has been extended to 90 days and paternity leave to seven days

Maternity leave for State employees or agents is to be extended from the current 60 to 90 days. The first step towards this extension, which is part of the proposal to revise the General Statute for State Employees and Officials (EGFAE), was given this Wednesday by parliament, with the approval, generally and by consensus, of the instrument.

According to the proposal already approved, “maternity leave consists of the granting to the parturient State official or agent 90 days cumulative leave, which can start 20 days before the probable date of childbirth”.

The legislation states that the license “applies also to cases of full-term or premature birth, whether or not the child is born alive or stillborn”, provided that the gestation period is equal to or greater than seven months.

According to the Minister of State Administration and Public Administration, Carmelita Namashulua, this component aims, essentially, at providing greater maternity protection, also allowing mothers more time to breastfeed their children .

Paternity

The leave established in Article 72 of the new statute also covers fathers, for whom leave is now extended to one week. “Paternity leave consists of the granting to the father of a license for seven consecutive or interpolated days, within 30 days from the date of birth of the child, every two years,” paragraph number four of Article 72 of the new legislation states.

Paternity leave may be extended to two months, under circumstances and conditions of fatality or incapacity of the parent. Paternity leave may be “granted for a period of 60 days, when there is death or physical or mental incapacity of the mother, the capacity to be proven by the board of health”, the statute reads.

Other leaves

In total, there are 10 different types of leaves established by the new EGFAE: disease; childbirth; paternity; marriage; silver or gold wedding anniversaries; mourning; exercising functions in international organisations; accompaniment of a spouse placed abroad; registered, special and unlimited leave.

As under the current statute, sickness leave continues to be granted by the health board for periods of up to 30 days, extendable for successive periods, or for up to eight days under clinical opinion.

On the occasion of marriage and silver or gold wedding anniversaries, applicants are entitled to 10 calendar days leave.

When an official is placed abroad “for a period longer than 90 days or indefinitely, on a mission representing the State interest or in international organisations, the respective spouse, if employed, is entitled to the license to accompany a spouse placed abroad” without, however, having the “right to earn a salary”.

The accompanying spouse, registered, special and unlimited leaves are, according to the statute, “dependent on previous service”, the rest being inalienable rights.

The new EGFAE proposals comprise a total of 168 articles and, according to Namashulua, “present innovations whose observance and implementation, in conjunction with other measures being taken by the government, will bring improvements in labour relations in the State apparatus, so that the public administration has qualified, motivated and disciplined officials and agents, with the ultimate aim of satisfying the citizen’s interest”.

Source: O País