quote:

Originally posted by filomena:
Sounds like another way to take advantage of the sytem!

Well, not exactly. Women who are not lucky enough to have a "tempo indeterminato" job contract often resort to getting a "gravidanza a rischio" certificate because that way they can't be fired. It's what occurred to a friend of mine, who announced at the office that she was pregnant and aftr two days she was announced that her contract would not be renovated!
The pregnacy protection laws are a complicated issue: they were planned to protect the mothers, but they are so overprotective in some instance that the women have a hard time finding a job, and even an harder one holding it after they get pregnant. Obviously, with this I do not mean that nobody takes profit from the law, just that in some istnance the fraud is done to preserve either the job or, at elast, the income during the pregnacy.

Oh that's interesting AT. So there are no anti-discrimination laws which protect women from not having their contract renewed because they are pregnant? They have to get a "gravidanza a rischio' certification from their doctors before such anti-discrimination laws kick in?

No one in my childbirth class mentioned that as a motivation. They just all seemed to think it was 'impossible' to keep working past month 5 or so. I guess pregnancy is different for everyone - but they seemed so negative. They were all talking about how impossible it is to take public transport to work when you're pregnant as "no one stands up." I took the metro to work every day until month 8 when I had to give up work and every day either someone stood up for me on the metro or I picked a healthy looking younger person and asked him/her to stand up for me. Never had a problem getting a seat.

At this point (38 weeks) pregnancy is pretty darned uncomfortable but earlier in my pregnancy I was fine working a desk job.

It's the difference between maternità obbligatoria and maternità facoltativa.

Nobody needs to take the optional time off at 80% pay ..... for 6 months if they don't want to - the other 3 months drop to only 30% pay. But there are time limits to when you advise your boss of your plans.

There are also options for Daddy taking paternity leave - but only if the Mum has gone back to work.

And just in case anybody does not know - a full-time working mum can go back to work for 6 hours a day for breast feeding instead of 8 hours.