The master’s thesis discusses the rights of fathers to paternity or parental leave in Slovenia. We want to know, if the current legislation of rights arising from parental protection has an encouraging impact on the use of parental leave by fathers and which legislative measures Slovenia should yet adopt in order for fathers to use the leave at child birth in a greater extent or that the parents would equally distribute the use of the leave between them.
Based on the analysis of the rights of fathers concerning parental protection in European Union member states, we can conclude that fathers in Slovenia are legally entitled to a above average long paternity or parental leave with a high degree of associated financial compensation. However, statistical data about the use of this leave show that fathers still transfer the majority of this leave to the child’s mother. The thesis points out the so called paternity quotas as a possible instrument, which would encourage fathers. These quotas present a non-transferable part of the leave, which fathers cannot transfer to mothers and expires, if they don’t use it. We study the possibility of the introduction of paternity quotas through an analysis of the legislations in Germany and Norway, where paternity quotas have already been legislated. The findings of the performed researches in both studied countries show encouraging results, since after the introduction of quotas in both countries, the use of paternity leave has increased significantly.
Based on the study of factors, influencing the decision of fathers about the use of paternity leave, and the analysis of the performed researches about the effects of non-transferable leaves on the distribution of the leave between parents, we see paternity quotas, under an appropriate legal regulation, as a suitable form of encouragement even in the Slovenian judicial area.
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