When is the best time to use paternity leave?

When is the best time to use 14 day paternity leave? What did I think, and how was it in practice?

 

[photo: Gosia Michalak] When I got pregnant and I was talking to my friends about paternity leave, we immediately came up with the idea that we would use paternity leave only a few months after giving birth, and we would use this time for additional family holidays. In my head, I completely rejected the idea of ​​taking paternity leave immediately after giving birth - it would simply be a pity for me to "waste" so much free time in the period when I do not feel the best, and it is impossible to go anywhere with the baby or even go out too much from home for more than a quarter of an hour.

 

In practice, our first delivery ended with a caesarean section, after which it was very difficult for me to regain my strength - my recovery was apparently slower than that of my colleagues from the ward. This is why, on discharge from the hospital, we received a 2-week sick leave for my husband to look after me after a cesarean section. It meant that Wojtek did not return to running the company after giving birth, but devoted this time fully to our family.

And I will tell you that it was the most beautiful two weeks in my life!

This absolutely extraordinary time to return home from the hospital with the newly born, so much-awaited Treasure, a time that Dad and Husband could devote fully to caring for their new, just enlarged family, without the daily rush from home to work and home work, This is the greatest treasure that fate could have given us. During that time, Mikołaj and I were fully looked after, looked after, most important and always in the first place. At that time, there was no question of any of my baby blues, of extreme fatigue, of thinking what to do for dinner, shopping and everyday problems. It was an amazing, magical time that never happened again. Time to learn how to live in a new composition, learn a new member of our family, and most importantly, I was not alone in it, we were a full family. Together, we learned to recognize the signals sent by our baby, we reacted to them together, we calmly took a patronage visit at the clinic or midwife's visit.

 

I would never have planned so many days off on time right after giving birth, I simply felt sorry for him for such ordinary everyday matters, which turned out to be the most beautiful and precious moments in my life, having a huge positive impact on building and strengthening bonds in our home.

 

Therefore, after giving birth, ask your doctor if you are entitled to your husband's care. If he is not entitled and your husband is employed under a contract of employment, then do not hesitate for a moment - take your paternity leave right away, the first two weeks will never happen again. And you will probably go on vacation for the rest of your life.

 

And how do you like this plan?
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And now paternity leave in a nutshell:

 

Before we start talking about when it is best to use paternity leave, let's check who is entitled, how long and how much time we have to use it.

 

What is paternity leave?

Paternity leave is granted to an employee - father who, during the term of the employment relationship, became a father both biologically and through adoption.

 

How much is paternity leave?

Paternity leave lasts 2 weeks - 14 calendar days - regardless of whether one or more children have been born at one birth.

 

Do you need to take paternity leave once?

Paternity leave can be used in two ways:

- 14 calendar days at one time,
- 14 calendar days in two parts, but none of them may be shorter than 7 days, so in practice it can be broken into two, 7-day parts.

 

When can paternity leave be used?

You can take paternity leave within 24 months of the child's birth, so we have 2 years for it. If the leave is not used within this period - it is forfeited, no financial equivalent is due for it.

 

How to get paternity leave?

To take paternity leave, you must submit a written application to your employer at least 7 days before it begins. Download here Application for paternity leave - WZOR.

 

What remuneration is on paternity leave?

An employee who is on paternity leave receives 100% of his salary - the same as on vacation leave.