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South Africa‘s newly amended labour laws that grant male parents leave when their children are born have come into effect.

Last month South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the sections of the Labour Laws Amendment Act 10 of 2018 (Act) will come into effect on November 1, 2019.

The new laws were passed by the South African National Assembly after a lawmaker, ACDP MP Cheryllyn Dudley brought the proposed bill in 2017.

Per the new laws, male parents will be granted Parental leave of 10 successive days.

For parental adoption leave employees will benefit from 10 consecutive weeks or 10 consecutive days of leave.

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But for adoptive parents to benefit from adoption leave, adopted children must be 2 years old or younger. In that case only one parent will benefit.

Commissioning parental leave (applicable to surrogate mothers) also comes with 10 consecutive weeks or 10 consecutive days.

The new laws also provides for a mother who loses her child in the third trimester, or whose baby is stillborn, to be eligible for maternity leave (4 consecutive months).

The paternity leave policy comes with qualifying beneficiaries accessing 66% of their earnings, subject to the maximum earnings threshold.

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Companies are now expected to update their HR policies accordingly to comply with these new laws.

Source: Africafeeds.com