3. Holidays.

Practitioners may be placed on unpaid parental leave to bring up their child. In this position, the practitioner does not acquire any right to retirement, subject to the legislative or regulatory provisions relating to pensions providing for the taking into account of periods of interruption of activity linked to the child. He/she retains his/her rights to advancement to a higher step. This period is treated as equivalent to actual service.

Parental leave is granted automatically to one of the parents following the birth or adoption of a child, without prejudice to the leave mentioned in 5° of article R. 6152-35 which may be taken beforehand. Parental leave ends at the latest on the child's third birthday or on the expiry of a period of three years from the arrival in the home of the child, adopted or entrusted with a view to adoption, who is less than three years old. Where the child adopted or entrusted for adoption is over three years old but has not yet reached compulsory school-leaving age, parental leave may not exceed one year from the date of arrival in the home. In the case of multiple births, parental leave may be extended until the children start nursery school. In the case of multiple births of at least three children or the simultaneous arrival of at least three children adopted or entrusted with a view to adoption, it may be extended five times to end no later than the sixth birthday of the youngest of the children.

The request for parental leave must be submitted at least one month before the start of the leave and must include an undertaking by the practitioner to devote the leave effectively to bringing up his or her child.

Parental leave is granted by the director of the public health establishment for periods of two to six months, renewable by tacit agreement. Practitioners wishing to interrupt their parental leave must notify the Director at least one month before the expiry of the current period. Interrupted leave may not be resumed at a later date.

The beneficiary of parental leave may, at any time, request to shorten the duration of the leave for serious reasons, in particular in the event of a reduction in household income or in the event of a new pregnancy.

When both parents are hospital practitioners, the parent benefiting from parental leave may waive it in favour of the other parent for the period remaining until the expiry of the entitlement. The other parent must submit his or her request at least one month in advance. He/she is placed on parental leave, at the earliest, from the day on which the beneficiary returns to work.

If a new birth or adoption occurs during the parental leave, the practitioner is entitled to further parental leave.

The director of the establishment will carry out the necessary investigations to ensure that the hospital practitioner's work is actually devoted to bringing up his/her child. If the investigation reveals that this is not the case, the leave may be terminated after the person concerned has been given the opportunity to present his or her observations.

Parental leave ceases automatically if the child placed for adoption is removed.

At the end of the parental leave, the practitioner is reinstated as of right, if necessary in excess, in his original public health establishment. They must submit their request at least one month before the date on which they wish to be reinstated.