Leave is guaranteed in cases of childbirth, adoption, or the process of obtaining custody of a child for the purpose of adoption, without loss of employment or pay.
The extension of paternity leave will be implemented gradually, with a progressive increase in the duration of leave: 10 days starting in 2027, 15 days starting in 2028, and 20 days starting in 2029.
The new legislation also increases the father’s leave by one-third in cases where the child has a disability and addresses situations such as adoption, the mother’s death, premature birth, and hospitalization of the baby or the mother.
Similar to maternity pay, the new law also establishes paternity pay, funded by Brazil’s Social Security system, and guarantees job security for the father, who cannot be fired for up to one month after the end of his paternity leave.
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“Women have already conquered the job market, but men haven’t yet conquered the kitchen. This law will teach men how to bathe a child and wake up at night to care for a child when they cry. They’ll have to learn how to change diapers. So this is a law I’m very pleased to sign,” declared Lula da Silva as he signed the bill during an event at the Planalto Palace.
Under the new legislation, a father’s benefits may be suspended, terminated, or denied if there is concrete evidence indicating domestic or family violence or material neglect regarding the child or adolescent under his care.
The passage of the bill extending paternity leave in Brazil through the National Congress brought together politicians from the left and Bolsonaro supporters during its approval.
According to local media, the bill faced strong lobbying from productive sectors of the Brazilian economy, particularly industry, which opposed the expansion of the benefit guaranteed in the Brazilian Constitution since 1988.
