Does giving birth before or after the 15th affect the maternity benefit in Vietnam?
I started working at the company and payid insurance from September 2019. Currently, I am pregnant, expecting to give birth in January 2021. I heard from the HR division that giving birth before or after the 15th may affect my maternity benefit, so I am a bit worried. How is this issue regulated? Will I still be entitled to maternity benefit? Please get back to me.
Does giving birth before or after the 15th affect the maternity benefit in Vietnam? (Image from the Internet)
First, are you entitled to maternity benefit in Vietnam?
Based on the provisions of Clause 1, 2 of Article 31 of the Social Insurance Law 2014, female employees who have paid social insurance for at least full 6 months within 12 months before childbirth are entitled to maternity benefit.
The determination of the period of 12 months before giving a birth is applied according to the regulations in Clause 1, Article 9 of Circular 59/2015/TT-BLDTBXH, specifically:
a) In case of giving a birth a adopting a child before the 15th date of a month, the month of birth giving or adoption shall not be included in the period of 12 months before birth giving or adoption.
b) In case of giving a birth a adopting a child on 15th date onwards of a month and the social insurance is paid for such month, therefore the month of birth giving or adoption shall be included in the period of 12 months before birth giving or adoption. In case the social insurance is not paid for such month, the provisions under Point a of this Clause shall be applied.
According to this regulation, if you started participating in social insurance from September 2019, expecting to give birth in January 2021, if you give birth before January 15, then your period of 12 months before giving a birth is counted from January 2020 to December 2020 (including 12 months of social insurance contributions) => You meet the conditions for maternity benefit.
In the case of giving birth after January 15 and having social insurance contributions in that month, your period of 12 months before giving a birth is counted from February 2020 to January 2021 (with 12 months of social insurance contributions) => You meet the conditions for maternity benefit.
Therefore, whether you give birth before or after January 15, with continuous participation in social insurance from September 2019 to the present, you still meet the conditions for maternity benefit.
Second, how does giving birth before or after the 15th affect the maternity benefit of female employees in Vietnam?
As analyzed above, determining the time of giving birth before or after the 15th of the month aims to determine the 12-month period before giving birth, to assess whether female employees meet the requirements for social insurance contributions to qualify for maternity benefit.
For female employees who have continuously paid social insurance for over 6 months within the 12 months before giving birth, whether they give birth before or after the 15th of the month does not affect their eligibility for maternity benefit.
For female employees who have just enough social insurance contributions for 6 months, determining the time of giving birth before or after the 15th is crucial in deciding whether they qualify for maternity benefit or not.
Note: Giving birth before or after the 15th does not affect the level of maternity benefit entitlement for female employees.
Best regards!
