A primary school teacher, a single parent, has won a lawsuit against the Department of Education for denying him 16 weeks of parental leave. The failure of Administrative Contentious Court number two of Tarragona points out that if the Generalitat pays the single-parent civil servants four weeks of Paternal low It means that recognizes that right so it doesn’t make sense for me to pay them for just four weeks when, under current law, parental leaves are 16.
“The controversial issue is really determination of the duration of the permitbecause in this case the Administration grants it for four weeks, while, after the reform operated by the Law 6/2019which extended its duration, is established a duration of 16 weekswithout the Catalan autonomous law having been modified for its adaptation to the duration of the current paternity leavedetails the court ruling that gave reason to the plaintiff teacher.
That is, the judge asks the Generalitat of Catalunya to go one step further recognition of women’s rights. If you already recognized in your day the right of single-parent mothers to have double leave, you must update the time of that leave.
children’s rights
“The rights that are sought to be protected here are those of boys and girls to be cared for. It is unfair that a child with two parents has 32 weeks of care at home, 16 from one parent and 16 from the other, and a child of a single mother, no,” stresses Montse Veses Ferrer, the teacher from Tarragona who has won the lawsuit against Department of Education clothed by the CGT and represented by Col lectiu Ronda.
From the union to which he belongs Veses Ferrer ask the Department of Education to bet “on supporting equality policies towards its workers, a highly feminized collective“. When Veses Ferrer started the process by requesting the 32-week permit to the Departmenthe denied it alleging that the Social Security only pay 20 weeks. In the eyes of CGT, this is not a valid response, “when the law endorses discrimination, what is needed are brave politicians so that feminist proclamations become facts”.
The example of Barcelona
Given the refusal of Departmentthe teacher of Tarragona, as more and more single-parent mothersresorted to justice, that has given him the reason (despite the fact that it is not a final judgment). “Now we will really see what the Department’s bet is, if it appeals the sentence and perpetuates discrimination or choose the option that other administrations have initiated such as the Barcelona’s town hall”, indicate from the union. The city hall of the Catalan capital recognizes the 32 weeks of sick leave for its single-parent working mothers in its regulatory agreement.
Aware of the slowness of justice, like all the mothers who denounce, You see Ferrer, whose daughter already has 15 months, she insists that she is not doing it for her, but for those to come.
“We started on the basis that maternity leave is ridiculous. Nonsense for all mothers. Single parents and bi-parents. It cannot be that the leave for the mother continues to be 3.7 months [12 semanas]. They are super babies, not to mention that the WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding up to six months“, remember Veses Ferrer on the phone, while taking care of her little girl.
The CGT, the union that supports the plaintiff mother, asks Educació not to appeal the sentence and to “be exemplary”, as other administrations do (the Barcelona City Council pays until week 32)
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“Me I’ve been saving for this for a long time. And I was able to take a leave of absence, but I know that, as an official, I am privileged, many women are not in a position to do so. Most single mothers can’t afford it. And, the more money I could have saved, the longer I would have taken the leave of absence to Take care of my daughter. It’s nonsense to take them off the breast after three months”, continues this primary school teacher who works in the neighborhood of Bonavista of Tarragona.
Always late
“One of the many problems we come across is that, even if the judge agrees with us, no one has been able to enjoy it. They agree with you, but it’s too late, when the sentence arrives your child is over 12 months old. But we do it to open the way“, continues Vesses Ferrer, who wants to put another issue on the table: single-parent family title. “Right now it is the topic we talk about the most in the chat of single parent. Renewing it takes many months and they do not give you any solution. It is a disaster. It is of little use to you, but not even for that, if it doesn’t arrive on time,” denounces the teacher, who also insists on the lack of aid. “I was surprised to discover that the discount in the public nursery was 10%. It would make sense that it was 50% since we are families that characterize ourselves because in our houses only a salary enters“, he concludes.