Romanian Constitutional Court Upholds Govt Decree Regulating Maternity Leave, Child Rearing Benefits

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The court decided unanimously the opposition's claim that the law restricted the rights of beneficiaries by cutting back on the duration of maternity leave and lowering the monthly child rearing benefit paid by the state.

Parliamentary groups of the opposition Social Democratic and Liberal parties contested the law, which became effective at the beginning of this year, on May 26.

Social democrat MP Mircea Dusa said at that time the law restricted people's rights and Romania has the biggest newborn abandonment rate in the EU.

Romania's Chamber of Deputies adopted the law on May 24, after it was tacitly adopted in the Senate in February.

The law sets that as of January 2011, mothers can choose to stay on maternity leave for two years and receive a monthly benefit of 600 to 1,200 lei (EUR143 - EUR286), or they can stay on maternity leave for just one year and get a monthly child rearing benefit of up to RON3,400 (about EUR815).

The law also sets that mothers who choose to return to work before the end of one year's maternity leave receive a monthly benefit of RON500 until the end of the two-year period they could have spent on leave. (EUR1=RON4.1732)