100-day maternity leave gets Senate OK

The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading a bill seeking to increase to 100 days the maternity leave for female employees in the public and private sectors regardless of the mode of delivery.

Senator Pia Cayetano, chairperson of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality and sponsor of Senate Bill 2982, said the current allowable maternity leave is less than the 98-day minimum requirement of the International Labor Organization.

The current law provides for 60 days of maternity leave for government employees and  60 to 78 days for employees in the private sector, depending on the mode of delivery.

Cayetano said the Philippines is lagging behind other countries in terms of maternity leave duration.

She said Vietnam provides 120 to 180 days of maternity leave, depending on the working conditions and nature of the work; Singapore provides 112 days of maternity leave; Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Thailand all provide a maternity leave period of 84 days.

She said the bill, known as the Expanded Maternity Leave Law of 2015, aims to provide mothers with ample transition time to regain health and overall wellness as well as to assume their maternal roles before resuming full-time work.

The bill also seeks to give mothers sufficient financial support while on maternity leave, Cayetano added.

Under the bill, an employee can also avail of an additional maternity leave of 30 days, without pay, provided that she gives the head of the agency due notice, in writing, 45 days before the end of her ordinary maternity leave.

"The expansion of the maternity leave period shall not in any way diminish the existing maternity benefits granted by the employer. It shall not affect the female employee’s security of tenure," Cayetano said.

According to the proposed measure, employees from the private sector availing of the maternity leave period and benefits must receive not less than two-thirds of their regular monthly wages.

"Employers from the private sector shall pay the salary differential between the actual cash benefits received from the SSS by the covered employees and their average weekly or regular wages, for the entire duration of the ordinary maternity leave," the bill said.

Exempted from giving cash benefits are employers who are operating distressed establishments and retail/service establishments employing not more than 10 workers.

Also exempted are employers who pay their workers on commission, boundary or task basis, and those engaged in the production, processing, or manufacturing of products and commodities including agro-processing, trading, and services whose total assets are not more than P3 million.

"Through policies like this, we aim to institutionalize standards that promote the rights of working women and protect them from discrimination based on maternity," Cayetano said.  —Amita O. Legaspi/KBK, GMA News