House OKs 100-day paid maternity leave 

The House of Representatives Committee on Women and Gender Equality has approved a bill seeking to increase the maternity leave period to 100 days with pay for government and private sector employees.

In a press release on Friday, the 17th Congress announced that House Bill 4113, or the proposed “100-Day Maternity Leave Law,” has been endorsed for plenary approval.

“The bill reached second reading in the House and a version of the bill from the Senate was passed and transmitted for concurrence during the 16th Congress,” said  committee chair DIWA Rep. Emmeline Y. Aglipay-Villar.

On top of the extended maternity leave, the bill also proposes an option for the new mothers to have an additional 30-day leave without pay.

Aglipay-Villar noted that the Philippines is one of the countries that provide the shortest period for maternity leave.

The current allowable maternity leave is 60 to 78 days.

Provisions

House Bill No. 4113, a substitute measure for 15 bills, aims to ensure the maternal and post-natal health care of women, as well as the welfare of the child.

It grants the same coverage regardless of civil status, miscarriage, or abortion after termination.

It also covers female workers in the informal economy, those with pending administrative case and those who are non-members of the Social Security System (SSS).

The proposal further ensures that the maternity leave will not be used as basis for demotion in employment or termination in the same agency provided that it shall not involve a reduction in rank, status or salary.

The bill states that a female SSS member who has paid at least three monthly contributions in the 12-month period prior to childbirth may avail of daily maternity benefits.

It also specified that female workers who go on maternity leave must receive no less than two-thirds of their regular monthly wages.

Employers shall be responsible for the salary differential between the actual cash benefits received from the SSS and their average weekly or regular wages, for the entire duration of the ordinary maternity leave subject to exceptions.

The bill designates the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the SSS to immediately conduct a review of the maternity leave benefits of women employees in the affected sectors.

If the bill is passed, the CSC and SSS are required to include maternity leave benefits in their valuation report conducted every four years for the SSS and every three years for the CSC, or more frequently as may be necessary. — BAP, GMA News