Following the signing of Republic Act No. 11210, otherwise known as the “105-Day Expanded Maternity Leave Law”, ECOP conducted a survey from 11 March to 31 March 2019 on the salient provisions of the new law in order to get an idea on the perception of employers and its possible impact on enterprises.
The new law has the following salient provisions:
- All working mothers in the government and private sector are guaranteed with 105 days of paid maternity leave credits regardless of whether the delivery is normal or via caesarian section
- 7 days out of the 105 days may be transferable to fathers
- additional 15 days of paid leave will be granted to single mothers if qualified under the Solo parents’ Welfare Act (R.A. No. 8972)
- option to extend leave for another 30 days without pay, provided that the employer is given due notice in writing at least 45 days ahead before the end of the maternity leave
- for cases of miscarriage or emergency termination of pregnancy, a 60-day paid maternity leave shall be granted to a female worker.
The new law also applies to every instance of pregnancy, removing the 4-pregnancy cap. This means that the law shall be applied to all female workers regardless of civil status.
In addition to these provisions, the new law also mandates the employer to pay the salary differential between the actual cash benefits received from the SSS by the covered female worker and their average weekly or regular wages for the entire duration of the maternity leave.
The survey results show that the new law would be costly for Philippine employers, especially with regards to the payment of the salary differential and the labor productivity lost from the increased number of non-working days. However, despite these additional costs, most employers mentioned that the new law will not affect their decision to hire women.
You may access the full report below.
[embeddoc url=”https://ecop.org.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Report-EML-Results-v2.pdf” download=”all”]
Republic Act No. 11210:
[embeddoc url=”https://ecop.org.ph/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/20190220-RA-11210-RRD.pdf” download=”all”]
