Centre entitles male single parent for child care leave

New Delhi : In a new change to leave policies, the single male government employees are now entitled to Child Care Leave (CCL). 

Union Minister Jitendra Singh announced the move on Monday while briefing about some of the major reforms brought by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

“Single male parent” includes employees who are unmarried, widowed or divorced and may therefore be expected to take up the responsibility of caring for a child single-handedly, Singh said. 

He also mentioned that the 'path-breaking' decision was taken some days back, but it took some time to reach the public domain. 

In further relaxation, the minister of state for personnel said an employee on child care leave may now leave the headquarters with the prior approval of the competent authority, according to an official statement.

The child care leave can be granted at 100 per cent of leave salary for the first 365 days and 80 per cent of leave salary for the next 365 days, Singh said in the statement issued by the personnel ministry. Additionally, the Leave Travel Concession (LTC) may be availed by the employee even if he is on child care leave.

He also announced the CCL age capping for specially-abled kids. Now child care leave can be availed by a government servant for a specially-abled child of any age, he added.