Obligations Of The Employers In Ecuador Regarding Paternity Leaves Of Its Employees

In Ecuador, the Law provides several benefits to workers for paternity leaves, and the employers must acknowledge such benefits, which are mainly the ones provided below:

1. Paid leave of absence to the working father after the birth of his child

   The employer must grant to the working father a paid leave of absence of ten days for the birth of his child, when it is a natural birth; and in multiple births or C-section, the leave is extended for five additional days.

   If the child is premature or needs special care, the leave is extended for eight more days. If the child is born with a degenerative, terminal or irreversible disease, or with a degree of severe disability, the employer shall grant a paid leave of absence of up to 25 days.

   If the mother passes away during childbirth or while she is on her maternity leave, the father may use all or the remaining part of the leave of absence of the mother, had she not passed away.

   When making these provisions, the legislators did not provide the specifics on how to approach some consequent aspects of the aforementioned situations, such as:

   There is no exact date on which the worker shall start the leave. The understanding is that he shall start it on the date of birth of his child, but the law does not specify what would happen if, for work reasons, the employer is not able to grant such leave of absence during that period. The legal provision does not clarify what would happen if the child passes away during the leave, or if the child is born during the annual vacation period of the father. The employer must pay the worker the full remuneration during this license period. There is no specification regarding a subsidy from the Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social (Social Security) during this period, such as the case of the maternity leave. There is no express rule forcing the employer to pay additional compensations to the worker in case of untimely dismissal during his paternity leave. 2. Paid leave of absence for adoption

   Employers must grant adoptive parents a paid leave of absence of 15 days starting on the date in which the child was legally handed over to the parents.

   During this leave, the employer shall pay full remuneration. There is no provision granting additional rights to the employee exercising this right.

3. Unpaid paternity leave of absence

   Once the paid paternity leave ends, the employees have the right to an optional unpaid leave of up to nine additional months, to take care...