The court granted maternity leave to a lesbian couple in Salvador (BA). According to the judicial understanding, the two women – including the one who did not bear the child – will be entitled to the benefit.
The Bahia Regional Labor Court (TRT-BA) released the decision this Tuesday (8), after the Brazilian Hospital Services Company (EBSERH) denied the initial request of a doctor, who works at the Climério de Oliveira Maternity Hospital, where Her wife, nurse and pregnant mother of the child, also acts.
The doctor had requested maternity leave after the birth of her daughter, but was denied by EBSERH, the company that manages the largest network of public hospitals in Brazil.
The state-owned company claimed that there was no legal provision for granting the benefit to non-pregnant mothers. The wife, who gave birth to the baby through assisted reproduction, was on maternity leave, while the doctor was preparing to breastfeed, after months of treatment to produce milk.
The judge in the case, whose name was not disclosed, highlighted that maternity leave is not limited to recovering from childbirth, but aims to strengthen the emotional bond with the child.
EBSERH appealed the decision and defended its position, claiming that the Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT) restricts maternity leave only to pregnant mothers or those who adopt a child.
However, the decision was maintained by the appeal’s rapporteur, judge Ana Paola Diniz, who based her analysis on precedents from the Federal Supreme Court (STF) and the need to evaluate each case without stereotypes.
For the judge, an interpretation that limits maternity leave only to pregnant mothers perpetuates inequalities, disregarding the motherhood of the other mother. “Particularities must be examined case by case, and not with a prejudiced standard that all homosexual relationships are the same”, stated the judge.
According to the TRT-BA, EBSERH can still appeal the decision.
This content was originally published in Lesbian couple wins maternity leave after going to court on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil

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