Paper Title
The Legal Issues on the Duration and Payment on Maternity Leave and the Addition of Parental Leave in Labor Protection Act B.E. 2541: A Comparative Study with Swedish Laws

Abstract
According to Thai labor laws, Labor Protection Act B.E. 2541 only allows the female employee a maternity leave for delivery. Nevertheless, when we considered the duration of leaving regarding section 41 of such act, it was found that a female employee only has 90 days of maternity leave for 1 pregnancy, which is quite low. This causes female employees to have little time to breastfeed her babies, making her babies receive insufficient amount of nutrition in the process. The lack of time and insufficient amount of feeding might further affect the physical and mental development of the babies as well. I viewed that there should be amendment on such provision by extending the duration of maternity leave to beat least 180 days per 1 delivery. Additionally, there should have a right of parental leave for her and her spouse to be able to help in parenting for at least 30 days. For the parental benefit for the spouse of such female employee, it will be depended on the regulation of each entity. The parental leave is necessary as her spouse can help her in parenting, to increase the intimacy between the spouses of such female employee and also to persuade the population to have more children. Still, there should also be measures to support the employer during maternity leave and parental leave. Such supporting measures might be tax deduction measure, trade measure, or other necessary measures. Index Terms - Employees, maternity leave, parental leave, Labor Protection Act B.E. 2541, Swedish Parental Leave Act (Föräldraledighetslagen), Swedish Social Insurance Code (Socialförsäkringsbalk).