Facts

On 21 July 2022, a child E. was born. On 14 July 2022, before the birth, the father A. and the mother D. had filed an application to open a file for the purpose of paternity recognition with the cantonal civil registry office of the canton of Vaud. After the birth, the parents were summoned to sign the recognition declaration on 23 January 2023. On that date, A. recognised his paternity before the civil registrar.

In February 2023, A., employed by Centre C. SA and B. SA, applied for a paternity loss-of-earnings allowance from the Interprofessional AVS Fund of the Federation of Romande Enterprises (FER CIAM 106.1). He stated that he had taken ten days of leave between 22 July and 29 December 2022 to care for his daughter. By decision of 3 April 2023, the fund rejected his application on the ground that the paternity recognition, recorded on 23 January 2023, had occurred more than six months after the child’s birth on 21 July 2022, thus breaching Art. 16i para. 1 TSOA. a LECA.

On 13 October 2023, the Cantonal Court of the canton of Vaud, Social Insurance Division, allowed the appeal brought by A. and his employers, quashing the fund’s decision and remitting the case for fresh consideration. The fund then lodged a public-law appeal against that judgment, seeking its annulment and the upholding of its refusal to grant paternity benefits. The Federal Supreme Court dismissed the appeal.

Considerations

The dispute concerns the interpretation of Art. 16i para. 1 TSOA. a LECA, which makes entitlement to paternity allowance conditional on the legal recognition of paternity within six months of the child’s birth. The Federal Supreme Court recalls that statutory interpretation must be based on a pluralistic approach, combining literal, historical, systematic and teleological methods.

Under the literal interpretation, Art. 16i para. 1 TSOA. a LECA requires that the man be the child’s legal father at birth or become so within six months thereafter. The concept of ‘legal father’ refers to filiation established under civil law, in particular by recognition before the civil registrar (Art. 260 para. 3 CC). Paternity recognition is a constitutive, irrevocable act that takes immediate effect and has retroactive effect to the child’s birth. Thus, the recognition declaration must be made and recorded within the six-month period for entitlement to paternity allowance to arise.

The historical and systematic interpretations confirm this reading. The six-month period was designed to match the paternity leave framework (Art. 329g para. 2 CO) and the paternity allowance period (Art. 16j paras. 1 and 2 LECA). Preparatory work shows that the legislature deliberately retained this period despite requests for extension, to avoid unequal treatment of fathers whose paternity is recognised late. Legal scholarship also agrees that recognition must be effective and recorded within the time limit.

The cantonal court had held that filing a…