Until then, the injustice seemed to have gone under the radar.
The president of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF), David Lisnard (LR), on Wednesday judged “scandalous” the suspension of the elected compensation of mayors who go on maternity leave, like the environmentalist councilor of Poitiers, who recently warned about this “legal vacuum”.
Mayor Léonore Moncond'huy "denounces a situation which is scandalous", he said.
“It is simply a matter of a woman mayor, when she is pregnant, keeping her elected compensation, especially since she retains the criminal liability and civil liability of her mandate” during this period, recalled the mayor of Cannes on the TF1 set.
Maternity leave for mayors: David Lisnard denounces "a scandalous situation" and hopes "that a woman mayor when she is pregnant keeps her elected compensation, especially since she retains criminal and civil responsibility for her mandate "#BonjourLaMatinaleTF1 pic.twitter.com/ITak1A3hEn
— TF1Info (@TF1Info) February 21, 2024
“Tie Break”
The elected EELV of Poitiers shed light on these difficulties by announcing, on February 12, that she would take two months of maternity leave, leading to the suspension of her mayoral allowance for the duration of this “mandatory absence”, a “loss of income” which “is not fully compensated”, due to a legal vacuum on the issue.
This absence also leads to difficulties in replacement, even though it is “obligatory”.
“The interim must be provided by the deputies, in the protocol order.
Except that their employers are not obliged to grant their request for discharge,” Léonore Moncond’huy clarified in an interview with the newspaper La Nouvelle République de la Vienne.
The AMF had already indicated to Le Parisien that it was ready to take up this subject to “encourage and strengthen the engagement of young parents in public life.
» “The question will arise much more in the future” and should “achieve consensus”, she said, denouncing “the breakdown in equality between elected officials and private sector employees”.
Read alsoProfessional development, recovery… Maternity leave continues to slow down women's careers
“The rules are inherited from a time when the majority of mayors were men,” added Johanna Rolland, EELV mayor of Nantes, interviewed this Wednesday morning on Franceinfo.
“The law was not designed for the exercise of responsibilities by women, that seems a shame,” said the elected official, deploring a “rather ludicrous situation”.
Highlighting a “situation of total inequality between men and women”, she expressed concern about “a brake on political commitment”, at a time when even today, “only 20% of mayors are women.
The councilor thus called to “ensure that there is no loss of income when you are mayor and want to become a mother” and to work “on the organization of replacement”.
A transpartisan bill on the subject, carried by the Macronist deputy Violette Spillebout and the communist Sébastien Jumel, is being prepared in the Assembly.
In the Senate, a law relating to the creation of a status for local elected officials must be discussed in March.