With a clarifying circular of the General Secretary of Labor Relations, Annas Stratinaki, issued as a result of questions raised to the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, regarding the scope of the single-parent family leave provided for by Law 4808/2021 on Labor Protection (article 45), the following is clarified:
1. Beneficiaries of the license in question, in addition of widows and unmarried parents who have custody of the child (as expressly provided by the legislation) are also the working parents, or third parties, who have been entrusted with the exclusive exercise of parental care of the person of the child/child by a court decision.
2. Beneficiaries of the license for single-parent families are also the parents who have been entrusted with the exclusive exercise of custody of their child, by a court decision or by a written agreement of dissolution of the marriage or cohabitation agreement, or in the event of a break in the cohabitation of the spouses or the parties to the cohabitation agreement, or annulment of the marriage.
It is recalled that the regulation of article 45 of Law 4808/2021 provides that “Employed parents, within the meaning of article 33, who have been widowed and the unmarried parent who has sole custody of a child, are granted leave of six (6) working days per year , with allowances, in addition to what they are entitled to by other provisions. A parent with three (3) children or more is entitled to leave of eight (8) working days per year”.
The Circular in detail
Following questions submitted to our Service, instructions are hereby provided for the beneficiaries of the license for single-parent families of article 45 of Law 4808/2021.
From the above provision the following are defined:
“Employed parents, within the meaning of article 33, who have been widowed and the unmarried parent who has sole custody of a child, are granted leave of six (6) working days per year, with wages, in addition to what they are entitled to by other provisions. A parent with three (3) children or more, is entitled to leave of eight (8) working days per year.
For its issuance, the following were taken into account:
a) paragraphs 1 and 3 of article 21 of the Constitution, which define the following:
“1. The family, as the foundation of the maintenance and advancement of the Nation, as well as marriage, motherhood and childhood are under the protection of the State.[…] 3. The State takes care of the health of citizens and takes special measures for the protection of youth, old age, disability and for the care of the needy.
b) the definition of the concept of a single parent according to Opinion 205/2019 of the 5th Department of the NSK, which has been accepted by the Minister of the Interior,
c) the provisions of the A.K. (p.d. 456/1984) on parental care and custody of children, as amended and in force by the provisions of Law 4800/2021, especially with regard to the issue of jointly and equally exercising parental care of children and by both parents in case of divorce, annulment of marriage, dissolution of cohabitation agreement, or termination of cohabitation of the spouses or the parties to the cohabitation agreement, but also regarding the foreseen cases of deviations in which the court may decide to distribute parental care or specify the way it is exercised between the parents in individual matters or even assign it entirely to one parent or a third person,
d) that the concept of parental care is broader than custody of children and includes it,
e) that from article 45 of Law 4808/2021, the single-parent family is recognized by the legislator as a category in need of special protection and care and at the same time the increased care responsibilities of the single parent due to the sole responsibility of raising a child/children are recognized.
f) the interpretative issues as highlighted by the Ombudsman and his relevant views on the beneficiaries of the single-parent family license, in single-parent categories, beyond those expressly mentioned by article 45 of Law 4808/2021, as expressed in context of exercising his authority with the under no. 307783/67986/2021/14.12.2021 and 307783/34586/2022/21.06.2022 his documents.
From the combination of the above, it clearly follows that the parent, or a third person, who has been assigned the exclusive exercise of parental care of the person of the child/child by a court decision, as well as the parent to whom the exclusive exercise has been assigned of custody of the person of his child by a court decision or by a written agreement, or by a digital statement of art. 1441 of the Civil Code, as applicable, dissolution of the marriage or the cohabitation agreement, or in case of interruption of the cohabitation of the spouses or the parties to the cohabitation agreement, or annulment of the marriage, as defined each time by the relevant provisions the regulation of these matters, in fact under the same conditions as the widowed or unmarried parent who has custody of the child, according to article 45 of Law 4808/2021, in terms of the increased obligations he has for the daily and exclusive custody of the upbringing, supervision, his education and training, but also the urgent and immediate issues concerning the physical, mental and spiritual health of the child.
In conclusion, summarizing the above, the correct interpretation of the provision of article 45 of Law 4808/2021 is broader than its narrow grammatical wording, in order to meet its purpose, and includes, as beneficiaries of the leave for single-parent families, working parents , or third parties, who have been entrusted with the exclusive exercise of parental care of the person of the child/child by court order, as well as the parents who have been entrusted with the exclusive exercise of custody of the person of their child, by court order decision or by written agreement to dissolve the marriage or the cohabitation agreement, or in case of interruption of the cohabitation of the spouses or the parties to the cohabitation agreement, or annulment of the marriage, as defined each time by the relevant provisions regulating these matters.
Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.
I have worked as a journalist for over 10 years, and my work has been featured on many different news websites. I am also an author, and my work has been published in several books. I specialize in opinion writing, and I often write about current events and controversial topics. I am a very well-rounded writer, and I have a lot of experience in different areas of journalism. I am a very hard worker, and I am always willing to put in the extra effort to get the job done.
