From January 1, 2025, an additional case where female employees in Vietnam may take up to 6 months off

From January 1, 2025, an additional case where female employees in Vietnam may take up to 6 months off (Image from the internet)

The Law on Social Insurance 2024 was passed by the 15th National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 7th session on June 29, 2024 which comes into force in Vietnam from  July 1, 2025.

From January 1, 2025, an additional case where female employees in Vietnam may take up to 6 months off

Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 52 of the Law on Social Insurance 2024 stipulating the time period for taking maternity leave in cases of miscarriage, abortion, stillbirth, fetal death during labor, ectopic pregnancy as follows:

In the case where a female employee who has been pregnant for 22 weeks or more satisfies the conditions specified in Clause 2, Clause 3, or Clause 5, Article 50 of the Law on Social Insurance 2024 and experiences a miscarriage, abortion, stillbirth, or fetal death during labor, the female employee and her husband are entitled to maternity leave as in the case of a female employee giving birth.

Continually, according to the stipulation in Clause 1, Article 53 of the Law on Social Insurance 2024, the period of maternity leave for female employees upon childbirth is implemented as per Clause 1, Article 139 of the Labor Code 2019 (stipulating that female employees are entitled to maternity leave before and after childbirth for a period of 6 months; the period of leave before childbirth shall not exceed 2 months).

Thus, from the aforementioned stipulations, in cases where a female employee who has been pregnant for 22 weeks or more meets the conditions specified in Clause 2, Clause 3, or Clause 5, Article 50 of the Law on Social Insurance 2024 and experiences a miscarriage, abortion, stillbirth, or fetal death during labor, she will be entitled to maternity leave of up to 6 months.

Application for maternity benefits in Vietnam

According to the stipulations in Article 61 of the Law on Social Insurance 2024, the mandatory social insurance dossier for requesting maternity benefits includes:

- The dossier requesting maternity benefits for female employees giving birth, female employees giving birth under surrogate, female employees having a surrogate give birth is a copy of the child's birth certificate or birth extract or a copy of the child's birth note, and other documents in the following cases:

+ Documents proving the treatment process of infertility for the female employee in the case stipulated in Clause 5, Article 50 of the Law on Social Insurance 2024;

+ A copy of the death certificate or death extract of the female employee giving birth, female employee giving birth under surrogate in case of death after childbirth;

+ The original or a copy of the confirmation from the medical facility regarding the mother's health condition after childbirth not being sufficient to take care of the child or the surrogate having received the child but not being sufficient to take care of the child;

+ The original or a copy of the confirmation from the medical facility regarding the female employee needing to take leave to nurture the pregnancy in the case stipulated in Clause 3, Article 50 of the Law on Social Insurance 2024;

+ A copy of the surrogate agreement for humanitarian purposes according to the stipulations in Article 96 of the Marriage and Family Law 2014 and a copy of the confirmation of the time of child handover between the surrogate and the party requesting the surrogate in the case of female employees having a surrogate give birth or female employees receiving the child from the surrogate;

- The dossier requesting maternity benefits for female employees giving birth and female employees having a surrogate give birth in the case the child dies immediately after birth and has not been issued a birth note, female employees pregnant for 22 weeks or more qualifying for maternity benefits upon childbirth as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 52 of the Law on Social Insurance 2024 is one of the following documents:

+ The original or a copy of the summary of the medical record showing information on the child’s death or fetal death;

+ The original or a copy of the hospital discharge paper for the female employee who gave birth or the female employee having a surrogate give birth showing information on the child’s death, fetal death;

+ A copy of the child’s death notice;

+ A confirmation document from the commune-level People’s Committee for cases where the child dies within 24 hours after birth;

- The dossier requesting maternity benefits for female employees when having a prenatal check-up according to the stipulation in Article 51 of the Law on Social Insurance 2024; female employees having a miscarriage, abortion, stillbirth, fetal death during labor, ectopic pregnancy according to the stipulation in Article 52 of the Law on Social Insurance 2024; employees implementing contraception measures according to the stipulation in Article 57 of the Law on Social Insurance 2024 is one of the following documents:

+ The original or a copy of the hospital discharge paper or the summary of the medical record or documents proving the inpatient treatment process of the employee in the case of inpatient treatment;

+ A certification of leave for social insurance benefits in the case of outpatient treatment;

+ The original or a copy of the hospital discharge paper showing information on the required outpatient treatment duration after the inpatient treatment period;

- The dossier requesting maternity benefits for employees adopting a child under 6 months of age includes a copy of the adoption certificate and the handover minute;

- The dossier requesting leave for maternity benefits or a one-time allowance for male employees when their wives give birth is a copy of the child's birth certificate or birth extract or a copy of the child's birth note;

In case the birth note does not show information on surgical delivery or childbirth under 32 weeks, additional documents from the medical facility showing the said information are required;

In case the child dies after birth and has not been issued a birth note, the dossier is the original or a copy of the summary of the medical record or the hospital discharge paper of the mother showing information on the child's death;

- The dossier requesting maternity benefits for the husbands of female surrogate requesters receiving a one-time allowance upon receiving the child must include a copy of the child's birth certificate or birth extract or a copy of the child's birth note;

In case the child dies after birth and has not been issued a birth note, the dossier is a copy of the summary of the medical record or the original or a copy of the hospital discharge paper for the surrogate showing information on the child's death or other documents from the medical facility showing information on the child's death after birth;

- The dossier requesting leave for maternity benefits or a one-time allowance for the husbands of female surrogate requesters upon their wives giving birth includes the following documents:

+ A copy of the birth note or birth extract or child's birth certificate; in case the birth note does not show information on surgical delivery or childbirth under 32 weeks, additional documents from the medical facility showing the said information are required;

+ A copy of the surrogate agreement for humanitarian purposes according to the stipulation in Article 96 of the Marriage and Family Law 2014.

- In cases where the documents specified in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 of Article 61 of the Law on Social Insurance 2024 or similar documents issued by competent authorities of foreign entities, they must meet the following requirements:

+ Have a Vietnamese translation authenticated or notarized as per the stipulations of the law on authentication, notarization;

+ Be legalized by consular authorities, unless otherwise provided by international treaties of which the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a member.

Le Nguyen Anh Hao

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