New Shanghai parents get paid leave extensions

Parents in Shanghai can enjoy more time with their newborns and an extra 5 days of annual leave for childcare, according to a revision of the municipal family planning regulation passed by the city's legislature on Thursday.

Under the revised regulation, the current paid maternal leave will be extended by one month, from 128 days to 158 days, and both parents will have five days of paid childcare leave every year before their child turns three.

The revision was approved by the standing committee of the 15th Shanghai People's Congress, keeping local regulations in line with an amendment of the nation's Population and Family Planning Law passed in August.

It also made clear the legal right of couples to have three children, and authorized municipal and district governments to implement measures in finance, tax, insurance, education, housing and employment to ease the burden of families raising children.

The regulation will take effect on Thursday, and all families which have had children between May 31 and Nov 25 are still entitled to the newly added benefits — mothers can reclaim the additional one-month paid maternal leave, and the related 30-day birth insurance will be issued to their bank account without repetitive applications.