In recent years, parental leave has been implemented in various regions as a welfare system to alleviate parenting pressure and improve the policy system for supporting childbirth. However, in practice, there is still a problem of inadequate understanding and implementation of the maternity leave policy. If employers do not agree to take parental leave, how can workers safeguard their right to take leave? Recently, the People's Court of Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, concluded a labor dispute case related to parental leave. Mr. Liu was originally an employee of an industrial company and resigned in November 2023. According to the relevant attendance management system, Mr. Liu is entitled to 4 days of paid annual leave in 2023, and the company will provide an additional 5 days of company leave. Mr. Liu took a total of 5 days off this year, of which 1 day was overtime compensatory leave, and the actual leave was 4 days. Mr. Liu's child was born in June 2021. During his 2023 vacation, he applied to the company for parental leave and submitted relevant documents such as his child's birth certificate. The company does not agree to Mr. Liu taking parental leave and will treat all 4 days of leave as annual leave, deducting the corresponding days' annual leave salary. Mr. Liu believes that the above 4 days of vacation should be considered as parental leave, so he filed a lawsuit with Kunshan Court, requesting the company to pay the salary for the 4 days of annual leave, 5 days of company leave, and the remaining 6 days of parental leave that were not taken in 2023. After trial, the court held that the "Implementation Plan for Optimizing the Birth Policy and Promoting Long term Balanced Population Development in Jiangsu Province" clearly stipulates that before the child turns three years old, both husband and wife are entitled to ten days of parental leave each year, and Mr. Liu has the right to apply for this leave from his employer. Mr. Liu had applied for parental leave, but the company did not approve it and instead treated it as an annual leave, which harmed Mr. Liu's legitimate rights and interests. The court supports Mr. Liu's claim that the 4-day leave he took in 2023 should be considered parental leave. Based on Mr. Liu's average monthly salary in 2023, his unpaid annual leave salary should be 3339.4 yuan. In addition, according to relevant laws and regulations, currently only the statutory annual leave has not been fully taken, and the employer needs to convert the salary benefits. Therefore, Mr. Liu's claim for the remaining 6 days of parental leave and 5 days of company leave salary has no legal or policy basis, and the company has not clearly stipulated compensation for unused leave in its rules and regulations. The court does not support it. In the end, the court ruled in accordance with the law that the defendant, an industrial company, should pay the plaintiff Mr. Liu 3339.4 yuan for his annual leave salary in 2023, and rejected other litigation requests. After the verdict, neither party appealed and the verdict has now come into effect. According to the judge's statement, protecting workers' vacation rights and building harmonious labor relations. Parental leave refers to the leave enjoyed by parents to take care of newborns or young children. As a newly added supporting measure for childbirth in China in recent years, the implementation of parental leave is beneficial for workers to balance the relationship between family and work, allowing parents to have more opportunities to establish emotional connections with their children and promote their healthy growth. The guarantee of paid parental leave for male employees is conducive to encouraging couples to share parenting responsibilities, and has positive significance in implementing male parenting rights, promoting equal employment opportunities for women, and building harmonious family relationships. Employers should strictly implement the parental leave system, protect the above-mentioned rights and interests of workers, and help build harmonious labor relations and a family friendly society. (Kang Jiaqian) [Related link] Article 30, Paragraph 1 of the Labor Contract Law of the People's Republic of China stipulates that the employer shall timely and fully pay the labor remuneration to the employee in accordance with the provisions of the labor contract and national regulations. Article 45 of the Labor Law of the People's Republic of China states that the state implements a system of paid annual leave. Employees who have worked continuously for more than one year are entitled to paid annual leave. The specific measures shall be formulated by the State Council. Article 13 of the Implementation Plan for Optimizing the Birth Policy and Promoting Long term Balanced Population Development in Jiangsu Province promotes the implementation of a parental leave system. Before the child turns 3 years old, both husband and wife are entitled to 10 days of parental leave each year. (New Society)