Parental leave: initiative reaches quorum

Context

In brief

• 136'000 signatures collected for parental leave
• 18 weeks of paid leave for mothers and fathers
• The signatures will be filed next week
• The deadline for collecting the 100'000 signatures expires on the first of October

Key facts

• Proposal → 18 weeks of paid leave for mothers and fathers
• Funding → loss-of-earnings insurance
• Signatures collected → 136'000
• Filing → next week with the Federal Chancellery
• Publication → Federal Gazette, April 2025
• Promoters → Pvl, Verdi, Alliance F, Travail Suisse, Donne del Centro
• Support → PS, Evangelical Party and other organizations
• Implementation → implementing legislation ready within five years, if accepted

The political step

136'000 signatures have been collected for the popular initiative on congedo parentale. The Green Liberal Party (Pvl), one of the forces promoting it, announced this. The signatures will be filed next week with the Federal Chancellery. According to the party's statement, the number is sufficient for the initiative to succeed with a comfortable margin.

The required quorum was 100'000 signatures and the deadline for collecting them expires on the first of October. The text of the initiative, entitled «Strong society and economy thanks to parental leave», had been published in the Federal Gazette in April 2025.

The proposal to amend the Constitution is promoted, in addition to Pvl, also by Verdi, Alliance F, Travail Suisse and Donne del Centro. The Socialist Party and the Evangelical Party, together with other organizations, also support the initiative.

The content of the proposal

The text calls for adequate, paid parental leave for mothers and fathers after the birth of the child. Funding should come through loss-of-earnings insurance. If the proposal were accepted, implementing legislation would have to be ready within five years.

For the first ten years, the initiative calls for 18 weeks of leave for both fathers and mothers. The periods should, in principle, be taken one after the other. At most one quarter of the period may be taken together, and the leave will not be transferable from one parent to the other. The phase described by the news is therefore that of collecting and filing the signatures, while the rules on leave belong to the constitutional proposal.

Operational details

The practical point, for those who live or work in Switzerland, is to distinguish the result of the signature collection from the family calendar outlined by the initiative. The quorum brings the proposal to the stage of depositing the signatures. The text, however, links the concrete rules to a possible acceptance and subsequent implementing legislation, specified with a five-year term. The 18 weeks are therefore the duration requested by the proposal and should be read together with this sequence.

The planned sequence

This reading avoids considering the period as a single block that can be freely allocated to the family. The proposal assigns 18 weeks to the mother and 18 weeks to the father, but stipulates that the leaves be taken, as a matter of principle, one after the other. The possibility of staying at home together would exist only for a portion no greater than one quarter of the period provided for. The rule on non-transferability also ties the leave to the parent to whom it is assigned: the text does not allow it to be moved from one position to the other.

The financing indicated

The reference to loss-of-earnings insurance defines the channel through which, according to the initiative, the leave should be financed. However, the source does not describe an individual procedure, a form, a start date or calculation methods. For the reader, the usable elements are therefore those explicitly stated: the leave would be paid, would concern mothers and fathers, and would have a separate duration for each.

The institutional process also remains linked to the proposed constitutional amendment. The report indicates submission to the Federal Chancellery and subsequent implementing legislation, but does not present differences between Cantons. To follow developments and read the rules described, one can consult the guide on congedo parentale.

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Key points

Following the initiative requires a simple distinction between what has already been collected and what depends on the subsequent steps. The source makes it possible to build an informational checklist, without attributing to the reader forms or individual requests that are not described in the text.

Five steps to keep separate

1. Identify the proposal. The text is entitled «Strong society and economy thanks to parental leave» and calls for adequate and paid leave for mothers and fathers after the birth of the child. The first reference to consult is therefore the one dedicated to congedo parentale.

2. Check the indicated threshold. The initiative required 100'000 signatures. Pvl announced the collection of 136'000 signatures and communicated that the collection deadline expires on the first of October.

3. Follow the submission. The signatures will be submitted next week to the Federal Chancellery. This is the step announced after reaching the quorum; it should not be confused with acceptance of the proposal.

4. Consider the subsequent condition. Only once the initiative has been accepted, according to the text, will the implementing legislation have to be ready in five years. The deadline therefore concerns the legislative phase indicated by the proposal.

5. Read the timetable without changing its rules. For the first ten years, 18 weeks are requested for fathers and 18 for mothers. The periods should in principle be taken one after the other; at most one quarter may be taken together, and leave cannot be transferred from one parent to the other. The planned financing comes through loss-of-earnings insurance.

This sequence makes it possible to correctly interpret the next updates: an announcement about the submission concerns the signatures, whereas any acceptance would open the implementing-legislation phase. The news item does not provide a procedure for submitting an individual request, nor does it indicate documents to submit. To learn more about the proposed process and rules, consult the guide on congedo parentale.

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Source: laregione.ch