Brazil Lawmakers Pass More Generous Maternity Leave Than Europe

[Judi Lynn]

Brazil Lawmakers Pass More Generous Maternity Leave Than Europe

By Katia Cortes

Aug. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil's congress approved a law that gives companies tax incentives to provide six months of paid maternity leave, a benefit more generous than Switzerland and France, in a bid to improve the health of infants.

The legislation cleared the lower house in Brasilia late yesterday and now goes to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to be signed into law. Under the proposal, companies get a tax credit for two months of paid leave to supplement the four months of full-salary, government-paid time off currently available.

The credit will cost the government about 500 million reais ($308 million) of lost revenue annually if all Brazilian companies offer the benefit, said the bill's author, Senator Patricia Saboya of the Democratic Labor Party. Allowing mothers to nurse longer will cut costs for Brazil's national health care system by reducing the incidence of infant diseases, she said.

``I support this bill enthusiastically,'' Health MinisterJose Gomes Temporao said in an Aug. 7 meeting with foreign journalists in Brasilia. ``The benefits from extending the period of close contact between mother and child in the first months of life are invaluable.''

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