ZURICH — Swiss voters on Sunday agreed to adopt a law mandating paternity leave, making it the last nation in Western Europe to do so and beating back strong conservative opposition to the proposal. Fathers in the country had been allowed one day off for the birth of a child — the same time given for moving homes — but the new ruling will increase that to 10 days of paid leave. And voters also separately rejected a referendum that would have blocked freedom of movement of European Union citizens into the country, an issue pushed by a right-wing party. The paternity leave law was approved by Parliament last year, but a group of conservative politicians collected more than 50,000 signatures on a petition opposing the measure. In the Swiss system of direct democracy, that forced the issue to be put to a referendum before it could come into effect.

Source: New York Times September 27, 2020 17:19 UTC