Maternity Regime for Female Employees in 2017

Eligibility Conditions

- Must have paid social insurance for at least 06 months within the 12 months before giving birth or adopting a child (applicable to female employees giving birth, female employees who are surrogates, and the mothers who request surrogacy, employees adopting a child under 06 months old);- Female employees giving birth who have paid social insurance for at least 12 months and must take leave to care for the pregnancy as directed by a medical facility must have paid social insurance for at least 03 months within the 12 months before giving birth.

Maternity Policy Duration

Policy for prenatal check-ups:

- During pregnancy, female employees are entitled to take leave for 05 prenatal check-ups, each time for 01 day.- If the medical facility is far from the employee’s residence or the pregnancy has complications or is abnormal, the employee is entitled to 02 days of leave per check-up.

Policy for miscarriage, abortion, suction, stillbirth, or pathological abortion:

Female employees are entitled to maternity leave according to the directives of authorized medical facilities. The maximum leave duration is regulated as follows:

- 10 days if the fetus is under 05 weeks old;- 20 days if the fetus is from 05 weeks old to under 13 weeks old;- 40 days if the fetus is from 13 weeks old to under 25 weeks old;- 50 days if the fetus is 25 weeks old or older.

Policy on childbirth

- Female employees giving birth are entitled to 06 months of maternity leave before and after childbirth;- In the case of multiple births, from the second child onwards, each additional child entitles the mother to an extra month of leave;- The maximum period of leave before giving birth is 02 months.

Policy on contraception measures

When using contraception measures, employees are entitled to maternity leave according to the authorization of medical facilities. The maximum leave duration is regulated as follows:

- 07 days for female employees receiving an intrauterine device (IUD);- 15 days for employees undergoing sterilization.

Policy on adopting a child

Employees adopting a child under 6 months old are entitled to maternity leave until the child is 06 months old.

Maternity Allowance

- Female employees giving birth or employees adopting a child under 06 months old are entitled to a one-time allowance per child equivalent to 02 times the statutory pay rate in the month the female employee gives birth or the month the employee adopts the child.- In the case of childbirth where only the father participates in social insurance, the father is entitled to a one-time allowance equivalent to 02 times the statutory pay rate in the month of childbirth per child.

Maternity Policy Benefits

Employees receiving maternity policy benefits are entitled to a monthly benefit equal to 100% of the average monthly salary on which social insurance premiums are based for the 06 months before the leave. For employees who have not paid social insurance for 06 months, the maternity policy benefit is equal to the average monthly salary of the months they have paid social insurance.

The average monthly salary for social insurance contributions as a basis for calculating maternity policy benefits is the average monthly salary used for social insurance contributions of the 6 most recent consecutive months before taking leave. If the social insurance contribution period is not continuous, it will be accumulated.

In the case where a female employee works until the time of childbirth or adoption of a child, the month of childbirth or adoption is included in the 12-month period before the childbirth or adoption. The average monthly salary for social insurance contributions of the 6 months before taking leave, including the month of childbirth or adoption, will be used for calculation.

Recovery and Resumption of Work after Maternity Leave

Female employees, right after the maternity leave period, within the first 30 days of returning to work, and their health has not recovered, are entitled to a recovery period of between 05 - 10 days. Specifically:

- A maximum of 10 days for female employees giving birth to two or more children at once;- A maximum of 07 days for female employees who had a surgical childbirth;- A maximum of 05 days for other cases.

The number of days for recovery is decided by the employer and the grassroots trade union executive committee.

Female employees who qualify for recovery leave within a specific year will have that recovery leave counted as part of that year. If the recovery leave spans across the end of the previous year to the beginning of the next year, it will be counted for the previous year.

See Also:

- Law on Social Insurance 2014- Decree 115/2015/ND-CP guiding the implementation of the Law on Social Insurance regarding compulsory social insurance- Circular 59/2015/TT-BLDTBXH detailing and guiding the implementation of certain articles of the Law on Social Insurance regarding compulsory social insurance

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