Maternity, paternity leave benefits

Dear PAO,
I am scheduled to give birth by caesarian delivery this coming February 2011. How long will be my maternity leave? Is the father of my child entitled to paternity leave even if we are not married?
Ella

Dear Ella,
Maternity leave benefits of employees in the private sector can be found in Republic Act (RA) 8282, or the Social Security Act of 1997. Section 14-A thereof provides that a female 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 a daily maternity benefit equivalent to 100 percent of her average daily salary credit for 60 days or 78 days in case of caesarean delivery.

You will be entitled to these maternity benefits only for your first four deliveries or miscarriages. To be able to claim maternity benefits, you should notify your employer of your pregnancy and the probable date of your childbirth, which notice shall be transmitted to the Social Security System (SSS) in accordance with the rules and regulations it may provide.

Full payment shall be advanced by your employer within 30 days from the filing of your maternity leave application. Note, however, that the payment of daily maternity benefits shall be a bar to the recovery of sickness benefits provided under the SSS law for the same period for which daily maternity benefits have been received.

If you should give birth or suffer miscarriage without the required contributions having been remitted for you by your employer to the SSS, or if your employer failed to notify the SSS the time of your pregnancy, your employer shall pay to the SSS damages equivalent to the benefits which you would otherwise have been entitled to.

Whatever amount of maternity benefits you received from your employer will be reimbursed by SSS upon its receipt of satisfactory proof that it has paid all the maternity benefits that are due to you.

On the other hand, the father of your child will not be entitled to a paternity leave because you are not married to him. Section 3 of Republic Act 8187, or the Paternity Leave Act of 1996, refers to paternity leave as the benefits granted to a married male employee allowing him not to report for work for seven days but continues to earn compensation therefore, on the condition that his spouse has delivered a child or suffered a miscarriage for purposes of enabling him to effectively lend support to his wife in her period of recovery and/or in the nursing of the newly born child.

Hence, only married male employee in the private and public sectors shall be entitled to a paternity leave of seven days with full pay for the first four deliveries of the legitimate spouse with whom he is cohabiting upon notification to his employer of the pregnancy of his legitimate spouse and the expected date of such delivery.

Finally, we wish to remind you that this opinion is solely based on your narration of facts and our appreciation of the same. The opinion may vary if other facts are added or elaborated.

We hope that we were able to address your concern.

PAO chief resists oust bid. PERSIDA ACOSTA, Manila Times

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