Maternity leave is a benefit that both male and female workers are entitled to when participating in compulsory social insurance. There are many changes in the regime maternity leave 2023, so workers need to grasp the new regulations to know how to apply them to their cases. Everything about maternity leave will be shared by Viet My in the article below.

1. What is maternity leave?

Maternity leave is a benefit that participants in compulsory social insurance will enjoy (including both male and female workers) during pregnancy from prenatal check-ups to raising young children. The regime aims to ensure and partially support the income of female workers when they are pregnant, give birth, raise young children, and take contraceptive measures, and for male workers when their wives give birth or take care of young children.

2. Regulations on maternity leave 2023

Employees who are entitled to maternity leave 2023 must fully comply with the conditions for enjoying maternity leave 2023 according to the provisions of law, specifically:

2.1 Conditions for enjoying maternity leave 2023

Based on the provisions of Article 31 of the Law on Social Insurance No. 58/2014/QH13 and Decree 115/2015/ND-CP, employees are entitled to maternity benefits if they simultaneously meet the conditions on subjects and time of participation in compulsory social insurance as prescribed.

• Pregnant female employees;
• Female employees giving birth
• Employees who are surrogate mothers and mothers who request surrogacy.
• In case employees adopt children under 6 months old.
• Female employees who have IUDs and perform sterilization methods.
• Male employees who pay social insurance and whose wives give birth.

Article 31 of the 2014 Law on Social Insurance stipulates that employees who give birth, female employees who are surrogate mothers, and employees who adopt children under 6 months old stipulate:

• For employees who give birth, employees who are surrogate mothers, employees who request surrogacy, employees who adopt children under 6 months old: within 12 months before giving birth or adopting a child, they must pay social insurance for at least 6 months
• For employees who give birth and have paid social insurance for more than 12 months but when pregnant, must take time off work to take care of the child as prescribed by a competent medical examination and treatment facility: at least 3 months of social insurance payment within a period of at least 12 months before giving birth.
• Employees who meet both of the above conditions and terminate their labor contract or quit their job before giving birth or adopting a child under 6 months old are still entitled to compulsory maternity benefits.
• Employees are fully eligible to participate in maternity benefits if they fully meet the requirements for maternity benefits and insurance benefits according to Article 31 of the Social Insurance Law 2014.

2.2 Time to enjoy maternity leave 2023

Therefore, maternity leave is applied from the first day of pregnancy until the child is 12 months old. Therefore:

Recovery time for prenatal check-ups (Article 32)

During pregnancy, employees have the right to take 05 days off for prenatal check-ups, one day each time. If the patient is far from the medical examination place, or the pregnant woman is sick or has an ectopic pregnancy, she will be entitled to 02 days off for each prenatal check-up.

Duration of application of the regime in cases of miscarriage, curettage, suction curettage, stillbirth and pathological abortion (Article 33)

In cases of miscarriage, curettage, suction curettage, stillbirth or pathological abortion, employees are entitled to maternity leave according to the regulations of the competent medical examination and treatment facility. The maximum leave period is prescribed as follows:

• 10 days if the pregnancy is less than 5 weeks.
• 20 days from the 5th to the 13th week of pregnancy.
• 40 days from the 13th to the 25th week of pregnancy.
• 50 days if the gestational age is > 25 weeks.

Time to enjoy the regime from birth (Article 34)

• Employees who give birth are entitled to 6 months of leave before and after giving birth. In case the employee gives birth to twins or more, after the birth of the second child, they are entitled to 01 more month of leave for each child.
• Maternity leave before giving birth is up to 2 months.
• Within 02 months from the date of birth, if the child dies, the mother is entitled to 04 months of leave from the date of birth. If the child dies before two months of age, the mother is entitled to 2 months of leave from the date of death, but the period of enjoying the maternity regime is not more than two months.

2.3 Level of benefits when enjoying maternity benefits

According to Article 39 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, employees enjoying maternity benefits are entitled to 100% of the average salary of the 6 consecutive months before taking monthly leave to enjoy maternity benefits. maternity benefits. However, only when employees have to pay insurance for these 6 months.

After increasing the basic salary according to the provisions of Decree 72/2018/ND-CP, the 2018 Maternity Project also adjusted to increase the one-time allowance for employees when giving birth. From July 1, 2018, the allowance will be 2.78 million VND/time instead of the previous level of 2.6 million VND/time.

2.4 Restoration and health recovery after maternity leave

Female employees who have not recovered their health within the first 30 working days immediately after the end of maternity leave as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 33 and Clause 1, Article 34 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 have the right to rest and recuperate from day 5 to day 10.

The recovery and health recovery period is determined as follows.

• Maximum 10 days for employees who give birth to two or more children
• Maximum 7 days for employees after surgery after giving birth.
• Maximum 5 days if not.

The daily allowance for rest and rehabilitation after giving birth is equal to 30% of the basic salary.

In addition, according to Article 37 of the 2019 Labor Code (effective from January 1, 2021), employers have the right to unilaterally terminate the labor contract with an employee who has not been fired or is not allowed to unilaterally terminate or quit the contract with an employee for reasons of marriage, pregnancy, maternity leave, or raising a child under 12 months old.

3. Maternity benefit documents

Not only women are entitled to maternity benefits, but men are also entitled to maternity insurance. To enjoy maternity benefits, depending on each case, employees must complete all required documents.

a. Maternity benefit documents for female employees giving birth

According to Article 101, Clause 1 of the latest Law on Social Insurance, maternity benefit documents for employees giving birth include the following 5 types of documents:

• A copy of the child’s birth certificate or a copy of the child’s birth certificate;
• A copy of the child’s death certificate if the child is dead or a copy of the mother’s death certificate if the mother dies after giving birth.
• A certificate from an appropriate medical examination and treatment facility that the mother is no longer healthy enough to care for the child after giving birth.
• A copy of the mother’s medical record or hospital discharge certificate in case the child dies after birth without a birth certificate.
• Certificate from a competent medical examination and treatment facility on the employee’s maternity leave in the case specified in Article 31, Clause 3 of the Law on Social Insurance.

b. Other cases

In case the employee wants to have a pregnancy check-up, miscarriage, abortion, stillbirth or pathological abortion, he/she must take preventive measures as prescribed in Article 37, Clause 1 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014.

• Certificate of leave from work to receive social insurance for outpatient treatment.
• Original or copy of the Hospital discharge certificate if inpatient treatment.
• In case the employee adopts a child under 6 months old, he/she must have a certificate of adoption.

c. In case the male employee takes leave from work when his/her wife gives birth

According to Article 101 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014, if the male employee takes leave from work because his/her wife gives birth, he/she must have both of the following documents:

• A copy of the child’s birth certificate or a copy of the child’s birth certificate;
• A confirmation from the medical facility if the fetus requires surgery or is born under 32 weeks old.

4. Maternity Benefit Procedures

There are three steps in the maternity benefit process. Please note that employees applying for benefits must prepare all the required documents above and follow the process below.

Step 1: Apply for maternity benefits

Within 45 days from the date of returning to work, depending on the case, employees must submit maternity benefits application to the employer.

When retiring before giving birth or adopting a child, employees submit the application and submit the social insurance book to the social insurance agency.

Step 2: Waiting for approval

According to Article 102 of the Social Insurance Law 2014, employees must wait for their application to be processed after submitting all the necessary documents.

Employers are responsible for completing the summary file and submitting it to the social insurance agency as prescribed within 10 days from the date of receiving the complete file from the employee.

The waiting time for the Social Insurance Agency to approve, settle and pay the employee is as follows:

• 10 days from the date of receiving the complete application from the employer.
• 05 working days from the date of receiving the complete application from the employee who quit the job before giving birth or adopting a child.

Step 3. Receive payment from the Social Insurance Agency

During the waiting period (maximum 20 days from the date of submitting the application), the employee will receive a payment notice from the Social Insurance Agency. In case of failure to reach an agreement, a written response must be provided stating the reason.

After receiving the payment notice, the employee will be paid by the Social Insurance Agency, but no later than 20 days from the date of submitting a valid application.

5. Frequently asked questions related to maternity leave

5.1 If the workplace owes social insurance, can it still apply for maternity leave?

In case the company owes social insurance, the employee must coordinate with the company to resolve the social insurance debt. Because, when applying for benefits, social insurance checks the payment process of the employee. And if this process is proven to be incomplete (due to debt), social insurance has the right to refuse payment.

5.2 When to apply for maternity insurance benefits?

Article 102 of the 2014 Social Insurance Law stipulates the regime of receiving sickness and disability benefits after giving birth, maternity benefits, health care and recovery benefits, and accordingly, employers are allowed to go to work and stipulate that maternity benefits are paid after 10 days from the date of receipt if you are working. After the employer submits a complete and valid application, the social insurance agency must adjust and organize payment for the employee.

5.3 If you quit your job after maternity leave, are you entitled to unemployment insurance?

According to Decree 61/2020/ND-CP, an employee is considered to be paying unemployment insurance if: The employee has a month immediately before the month of termination of the labor contract or work contract or the month of termination of the labor contract or work contract, but is off work due to illness or maternity for 14 working days or more in the month, does not receive the unit’s salary and has confirmation from the Social Insurance agency on the Social Insurance book…

5.4 Are you entitled to maternity benefits if you take maternity leave 3 months in advance?

According to Article 34 of the Social Insurance Law 2014, you will not be entitled to maternity benefits. Thus, you are only entitled to a maximum of 2 months of maternity leave. If you take a maximum of 2 months of maternity leave and pay social insurance for 6 months or more in the 12 months before giving birth, you are still entitled to maternity benefits.

5.5 How to enjoy maternity benefits when taking maternity leave 3 months in advance

To enjoy this regime, you can postpone signing the labor contract for 1 month, then take maternity leave for 2 months and ensure that you have paid social insurance for 6 months or more in the 12 months before giving birth. Therefore, if you have taken leave from work 3 months before giving birth, you are still entitled to maternity benefits.

Thus, in the above article, VIET MY LAW AND ACCOUNTING has sent readers the most necessary information about maternity leave 2023. If there are any questions that need to be answered, readers can contact us immediately for support.