Accepting the recommendations of the 7th pay commission, Department of Personnel and Training(DoPT) has granted Central government employees, who are single male parents, a span of 730 days or 24 months for Child Care Leave (CCL). It will help a single male parent who is unmarried, widowed or divorcee and have to take care of the child who is below 8 years of age. This order is in line with the recommendations of the 7th pay commission.
The report says that “the Commission notes that in the event a male employee is single, the onus of rearing and nurturing the children falls squarely on his shoulders. Hence extension of CCL to single male parents is recommended.”
This is in addition to the currently implemented 6th pay commission’s recommendations for granting maternity relief to women for 730 days. The Maternity (Amendment) Bill of 2017, extended maternity relief for women from 12 weeks to 26 weeks. Apart from CCL, female parents can avail maternity leave of 180 days and male parents can avail paternity leave for a period of 15 days.
The order, however, also says that 100% salary will be paid only for the first 365 days of CCL for the single male parents. The second half of CCL will only grant 80% of salary. Also, the order does not cover employees who are under probation, unless in an emergency. DoPT has also cautioned that provision should only be used if there is a real need and not only because the provision exists.
Maharastra government has also implemented the provision of 7th Pay commision, however, the grounds for leave have been altered. Only the male state employee whose wife is bedridden or unable to take care of the child can avail the CCL.
The seventh pay commission was constituted in February 2014, and the commission submitted its report in November 2015. The NDA government had implemented many of the recommendations in September 2016 for the central government employees so far and many state governments are also doing same.
