The federal government announced this Wednesday (4) a set of measures to boost the employability of women and allow for more flexible working hours after the end of maternity leave. They are included in a Provisional Measure signed by President Jair Bolsonaro and are part of the Income and Opportunity Program of the Ministry of Labor and Welfare, created to leverage the job creation in the country.
Among the novelties, presented during a ceremony at Palácio do Planalto, are two new forms of withdrawal from the Severance Indemnity Fund (FGTS), exclusively aimed at women.
The first modality provides for the release of funds from the fund to assist in the payment of day care. The other possibility of release will be the cost of professional qualification courses in specific areas, such as innovation, technology and engineering, considered to offer the best professional opportunities today, but which are still dominated by men in the job market.
The amounts, limits and time of use of these two new FGTS withdrawal modalities will still need to be regulated by the Fund’s Board of Trustees, in its own resolution. There is no deadline for this analysis to take place and the new modalities to come into force.
Still in relation to day care, the MP regulates day care allowance, or day care reimbursement, which is an amount passed on by companies that have more than 30 female employees (from 16 years old), defined through collective agreements or individual agreements between employees and employers. Currently, this benefit appears only in Ordinance of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, but will be included in federal law.
Flexibilization
The Provisional Measure also provides for the possibility of making the work regime of men who are fathers more flexible, after the end of their maternity leave, to give women more time to return to work during this period. This includes a proportional reduction in working hours and wages, a special regime of 36 hours of rest for 12 hours worked, when the occupation allows, a bank of hours and anticipation of vacations.
“Women will be freer to carry out their work activities and men will be more flexible in their activities as fathers. They will be able to take more care of their children and be more present at home, so that she [mãe] can dedicate, be more available at work and spend less time disconnected”, said the assistant secretary of work, Tatiana Severino, in a press conference to explain the measure.
Another alternative included in the MP is the possibility of implementing the lay-off, which is the temporary suspension of the employment contract for professional qualification. Aimed at parents, this new modality of lay-off allows the employee to leave for professional qualification courses, as long as they are in the Distance Education (EaD) format, so that he/she stays at home and can collaborate with the child’s care.
The government also instituted in the MP a change in the law that created the Empresa Cidadã program, which provides for the extension of maternity leave for employed women by up to 60 days. In practice, companies that are part of the program receive incentives to extend the removal of mothers for two more months in addition to the four provided for by labor legislation (CLT). The idea is that the extension of maternity leave can also be used by the father, in place of the mother, as long as it is by mutual agreement between the parties. Thus, the mother returns to the job market earlier, but the father gains leave to take care of the child.
Young apprentice
The creation of 100,000 new vacancies in the Young Apprentice program and the institution of the National Project for Incentive to Hiring Apprentices was also announced this Wednesday, through which participating companies will have benefits to regularize compliance with the apprenticeship quota. , with an estimated hiring of 250,000 teenagers and young people this year.
One of the changes is the extension of the maximum period of apprenticeship from two to three years and the creation of incentives for companies to employ apprentices in work contracts for an indefinite period after the conclusion of the apprenticeship program.
Also according to the government, measures were established to include more vulnerable adolescents and young people in learning, with priority given to the Auxílio Brasil audience, adolescents in institutional care, those from child labor, among others.
