Brazil Senate passes law to extend paternity leave to 20 days

The Brazilian Senate approved the amendment of Project Law 5.811/2025, which became Law 15.371/2026. The legislation expands the statutory paternity leave, which currently stands at five days, to ten days starting 1 January 2027, fifteen days on 1 January 2028 and twenty days on 1 January 2029. It also creates a salary‑paternity benefit, with reimbursement to employers by the National Institute of Social Security (INSS), covering employees under the CLT regime, micro‑entrepreneurs and other vulnerable workers.

The law broadens paid leave to situations such as premature birth, mother or newborn hospitalization, maternal death, adoption, and care for children with disabilities, while conditioning the benefit on the absence of domestic‑violence or material abandonment. The reform aims to raise Brazil’s ranking in the International Labour Organization’s paternity‑leave index from 80th to within the top 20 worldwide. The measure culminates a two‑decade legislative effort that began with a 2007 proposal by former Senator Patrícia Saboya and was championed in the Senate by Ana Paula Lobato (PSB‑MA).