House Approves 100-Day Paid Maternity Leave
100-Day Paid Maternity Leave – The House of Representatives Committee on Women and Gender Equality has endorsed a bill for plenary approval pursuing to lengthen the maternity leave period to 100 days with pay.
The said proposed bill, House Bill 4113 or the “100-Day Maternity Leave Law” also proposes an option of an unpaid 30-day extension for female workers in the government and the private sectors.
Currently, the allowable maternity leave period in the private and the government sector is 60 to 78 days.
According to a report by PhilStar, the House Bill 4113 or the “100-Day Maternity Leave Law” has already reached second reading in the House another version from the Senate was passed and transmitted for synchronization on the 16th Congress.
The said bill aims to “protect the maternal health and postnatal health care of female employees as well as the welfare of the child” as well as the security of tenure of them for both the private and government sector.
“Another provision states that a female SSS member who has paid at least three monthly contributions in the 12-month period immediately preceding the semester of her childbirth or miscarriage shall be paid her daily maternity benefit which shall be computed based on the average monthly salary credit, for 100 days, regardless if the delivery was normal or caesarian and subject to conditions as provided in the bill,” said a press statement quoted in the report.
The report added that female workers who will avail the maternity leave must attain not less than two-thirds of their regular monthly payment.
Also, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the SSS are designated by the said bill to conduct a review of the maternity leave benefits of female employees in both the government and the private sector.