Your employees may be entitled to additional birth leave

To enable employees to better balance their private and professional lives, the public authorities have created additional birth leave. This leave lasts for one or two months (consecutive or not), at the employee’s choice. And this scheme, whose implementation details have just been clarified, can be implemented from July 1, 2026.

For whom?

Additional birth leave is available to the parents of the child born or adopted, as well as, where applicable, to the spouse or partner of the mother of the child born (spouse, civil partnership partner, cohabiting partner). However, this is on condition that they have exhausted their entitlement to maternity, paternity and childcare leave, or adoption leave.

How?

Employees wishing to benefit from additional birth leave must inform their employer:
- at least 1 month before the start date of the leave;
- or at least 15 days before this date, when the leave is taken immediately after paternity and childcare leave or adoption leave and when this leave begins during the month following the child’s birth or arrival in the home.

And please note, this leave must begin within 9 months following the birth or arrival of the child in the home. For children born or adopted between January 1 and May 31, 2026 (or born before January 1, 2026 but whose birth was expected from that date), this period is counted from July 1, 2026 and therefore ends on March 31, 2027.

What compensation?

During the additional birth leave, employees receive a daily allowance paid by the Health Insurance system or the Agricultural Social Mutual Fund (MSA(1)). This corresponds to 70% (for the 1st month of leave), then 60% (for the 2nd month of leave) of their previous net salary (average of the 3 months of salary preceding the start of the leave). This salary is taken into account within the limit of the monthly Social Security ceiling, i.e. €4,005 in 2026.

And on the employer’s side?

To enable their employees to benefit from the daily allowance paid by the Health Insurance system or the MSA, employers must report the additional birth leaves in the Nominative Social Declaration (DSN(2)), within 5 days following the start of these leaves, then declare the leaves in the company’s monthly DSN (on the 5th or 15th of the month depending on its workforce).

(1) Mutualité Sociale Agricole

(2) Déclaration Sociale Nominative