New Paternity Leave Law Proposed

A newly proposed law would give new fathers a mini-paternity leave. If the baby is a boy he would get 8 days paternity leave, so that he would be able to take off for the bris mila, without having to worry about missing work. if the baby is a girl, the father would get 7 days paternity leave.

As of right now the law is that a father gets 7 days to take off, called sick days, before birth. The new law would transfer that time to after the birth, and for a baby boy would add another day. I assume that if he used some of the days before birth he would get less days after birth commensurate with how many remain unused.

The law has been proposed by MK Uri Ariel of the National Union Party.

The original law was intended to allow a future father to take some time off to assist his wife who is pregnant and needs doctor visits and checkups. Ariel proposes to change the law from being "sick days" to being called "The Paternity Leave Law". As well, the proposed law would allow the father to take the time off right after the birth, and up to the bris if the baby is a boy, to help his wife recover and to strengthen the family unit.

There is also a change as to how the leave will be funded. As sick leave it seems to be funded by the company and as paternity leave I think it is going to be funded by Bituach Leumi, though I am not sure I understood that correctly.