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Paid paternity leave plan for self-employed dads

22:51 15/07/2018

Belgium plans to introduce paid paternity leave for self-employed men, the country's minister for independent workers Denis Ducarme has announced.

Speaking to RTL, the minister for the self-employed said he wanted to put an end to "this situation of inequality".

Working with federal health minister Maggie De Block, the government will put forward a decree giving self-employed fathers the same 10 days of paid leave that staff already receive.

"We'll fight to get this paternity leave for the self-employed," Ducarme told RTL. "There is no reason why they should suffer from such an inequality."

Ducarme said maternity leave payments for self-employed women would also be paid sooner. At present, women who work for themselves must wait four months to be paid - much slower than maternity leave payments for employees.