Mother must enforce 9 weeks of parental leave in court

The fact that she had to go to court to be able to benefit from parental leave is apparent from a recent public decision by the Rotterdam court.

Parental leave

The woman has been working 17.5 hours a week for the firm since December 2021 as a notarial assistant in the real estate department. Shortly after, she became pregnant. Last August, the employee asked her employer if she could take nine weeks of parental leave from March 2023 following her maternity leave.

From August, parents are legally entitled to nine weeks of highly paid parental leave in the first year after the birth of their child.

Refusal

The notary’s office forbade the woman to take leave, because she could not be missed for so long. “For the duration of your maternity leave, it is not possible for a person with notarial experience to occupy your position,” the employer wrote. “This is because there is a shortage in the labor market at the moment and notary staff are not available at all.”

According to the office, his prolonged absence would cause problems in business operations. “If your maternity leave is also extended by nine consecutive weeks of paid parental leave, it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for the office to fill all positions.”

To the court

The woman did not stop there and went to court. The outcome was certainly not predetermined. It is true that the law stipulates that an employee can take parental leave for a period and according to the conditions chosen by the employee. But an employer can also refuse the desired implementation on the grounds of “serious business interests and in exceptional cases”.

According to the notarial study, this is the case, given the employment problems in the department where the woman works. His two colleagues would be overloaded with parental leave, on top of the already heavy workload. This would lead to a higher risk of failure, lower customer satisfaction and lower revenue.

The employer exaggerates

From a recent release pronunciation it appears the Dordrecht sub-district court ruled in favor of the woman last month. The judge recognizes that it is difficult to temporarily replace the woman and that the workload of her colleagues increases. But there would be no question of a “serious commercial interest”.

In fact, according to the judge of the high court, the employer is exaggerating the situation. For example, the woman’s co-workers have also returned to her work during her maternity leave, and the leave is a relatively short nine weeks with an employment contract of only 17.5 hours per week.

This means that the notarial office must allow the woman to take the requested parental leave. The judgment shows that the employer accepts the judgment.