PM Lee recently announced enhancements to Maternity Leave as part of the Marriage and Parenthood package.
Part IX of the Employment Act and Part III of the Children Development Co-Savings Act provide maternity protection and benefits for female employees.
Eligibility
The Children Development Co-Savings Act cover all parents of Singapore Citizens, including managerial, executive or confidential staff.
Under the Children Development Co-Savings Act, an employee is entitled to maternity leave benefits if:
i) The child is a Singapore Citizen;
ii) The child's parents are lawfully married; and
iii) The employee has worked for the employer for at least 90 days before the child's birth.
OR The mother is self-employed and have been engaged in a particular business / trade / profession for a continuous duration of at least 90 calendar days before the birth of her child; and have lost income as a result of not engaging in her trade, business, profession or vocation during the maternity leave period.
If the employee/mother does not meet criterion (i) and/or (ii) at the time of confinement, but meets them within 12 months of the child's birth, she will be eligible for the remaining maternity leave from the date she meets all the criteria. The remaining maternity leave entitlement must be taken before the child turns 12 months old. She will not be eligible for the maternity leave that has lapsed. This applies only to children born on or after 31 October 2008.
For employee/ mother who does not meet criterion (i) or (ii) but is covered under the Employment Act, will be entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave so long as she fulfils critierion (iii). The last 4 weeks can be taken flexibly with the consent of the employer, and has to be completed within 12 months of the birth of the child.
Duration/Maternity entitlement
An eligible employee is entitled to absent herself from work for four weeks immediately before and twelve weeks immediately after delivery, totalling 16 weeks.
Where there is a mutual agreement with the employer, the extended eight weeks (9th to 16th week) of maternity leave can be taken flexibly over a 12 month period after the child's birth. The employee can consume an equivalent of eight weeks' worth of working days flexibly, up to a maximum of 48 days.
Salary
Under the Employment Act, an employer is required to continue paying an employee her usual salary, i.e. her monthly gross rate of pay including allowances for the first eight weeks of maternity leave if the employee:
a) Has been employed for at least 90 days before the date of delivery;
b) Has less than two children of her own at the time of delivery: In the case of multiple births (e.g. twins, triplets etc) during the first pregnancy, the employer is still required to pay the next 8 weeks of maternity leave; and
c) Has given the employer at least one week's notice before going on maternity leave, and informed her employer as soon as practicable of her delivery.
Otherwise, the employee is only entitled to half the payment during the maternity leave, unless she can show sufficient cause that prevented her from giving such notice to the employer.
If the employee qualifies for Government-paid Maternity Leave under the Children Development Co-Savings Act:
• She will be paid by the employer during the entire 16 weeks of maternity leave, regardless of the birth order of the child. The employer may later claim reimbursement from the Government for the last 8 weeks for the first and second confinements and all 16 weeks for the third or subsequent confinements.
If the employee does not qualify for maternity leave under the Children Development Co-Savings Act:
• Payment beyond the first eight weeks is voluntary and subject to contractual agreement.
Entitlement of maternity leave benefit for a single (unmarried) employee
A single (unmarried) employee is entitled to maternity leave benefit if she is covered under the Employment Act. She will be paid for the first 8 weeks of maternity leave if she has fewer than 2 living children (excluding the newborn), and she has worked for the employer for at least 90 days before the birth of the child. Beyond the first 8 weeks, maternity payment from the employer is voluntary and the employer is not entitled to claim any reimbursement from the government.
Eligibility of maternity leave for an employee's child who is not a Singapore citizen
If the child is not a Singapore citizen, the employee is entitled to maternity leave benefit if she is covered under the Employment Act. She will be paid for the first 8 weeks of maternity leave if she has fewer than 2 living children (excluding the newborn), and she has worked for the employer for at least 90 days before the birth of the child. Beyond the first 8 weeks, maternity payment from the employer is voluntary and the employer is not entitled to claim any reimbursement from the government.
Eligibility of extended maternity leave for a foreigner or PR working in Singapore
The employee is entitled to maternity leave benefit if she is covered under the Employment Act, , regardless of her nationality. She will be paid for the first 8 weeks of maternity leave if she has fewer than 2 living children (excluding the newborn), and she has worked for the employer for at least 90 days before the birth of the child. Beyond the first 8 weeks, maternity payment from the employer is voluntary and the employer is not entitled to claim any reimbursement from the government.
The employee is entitled to maternity leave benefits under the Children Development Co-Savings Act, even if she is a foreigner or PR, if :
a) The child is a Singapore citizen; and
b) The child's parents are lawfully married ; and
c) The employee has worked for the employer for at least 90 days before the child's birth
OR
The mother is self-employed and have been engaged in a particular business / trade / profession for a continuous duration of at least 90 calendar days before the birth of her child; and have lost income as a result of not engaging in her trade, business, profession or vocation during the maternity leave period.
If the employee/mother does not meet criterion (a) and/ or (b) at the time of confinement, but meets them within 12 months of the child's birth, she will be eligible for the remaining maternity leave from the date she meets all the criteria. The remaining maternity leave entitlement must be taken before the child turns 12 months old. She will not be eligible for the maternity leave that has lapsed. This applies only to children born on or after 31 October 2008.
The Children Development Co-Savings Act cover all parents of Singapore Citizens, including managerial, executive or confidential staff.
Employee on fixed-term contract/Temporary/Part-time basis
An employee on fixed term contract, temporary and part-time employment is entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave, if she satisfies the eligibility conditions under the Employment Act or 16 weeks of maternity leave, if she satisfies the eligibility conditions under the Children Development Co-Savings Act. If she is eligible for paid maternity leave, she will be paid at the gross rate for each day that she would normally have been required to work under her contract of service.
Employee on probation
It does not matter that an employee is on probation, as long as the employee has worked for the employer for at least 90 days before the birth of the child and meets the other eligibility criteria for maternity leave under the Employment Act or the Children Development Co-Savings Act.
Maternity leave benefits for employee with twins or more
The employer is not required to double maternity benefits if an employee give birth to twins. Such employees will be considered for a single confinement in a similar manner as employees who gave birth to a single child.
Maternity leave benefits for employee with stillbirth
The employer is required to give an employee full maternity leave if she had a stillbirth. The stillbirth will not be counted in determining her eligibility for maternity leave benefits for the next confinement.
Maternity leave benefits for employee with abortion or miscarriage
Maternity benefits do not apply to such cases. However, the employee will be entitled to paid sick leave if she satisfies the qualifying conditions for paid sick leave.
Advance notice to employer before going on maternity leave
The employee must inform her employer as early as possible, at least one week before she starts taking maternity leave. She should also reach an agreement with the employer on how and when she intends to take the leave before she starts taking maternity leave. The 4 weeks of maternity leave immediately after the delivery of her child is compulsory.
Variation of maternity leave
An employee can take a shorter period of pre-confinement leave (i.e. less than four weeks) so that she can have a longer period of post-confinement leave, if there is mutual agreement between the employee and the employer. The total period of maternity leave is still subject to a maximum of 16 weeks.
Maternity leave benefits for employee with premature delivery
If an employee has a premature delivery before she goes on her maternity leave, she can take the full 16 weeks of maternity leave if her employer agrees to it. However, if she is unable to take the full 8 weeks of employer-paid maternity leave after her delivery, her employer should pay her wages for the period of her maternity leave which she has worked prior to her confinement.
Guidelines for employee to take extended 8 weeks of maternity leave flexibly
The extended 8 weeks of maternity leave may only be taken flexibly with the consent of the employer, and must be completed within 12 months of the birth of the child. The employer and the employee should discuss and come to an agreement before she goes on maternity leave. It can be taken on a stretch of 8 weeks or by working days capped at 48 days to be computed as follows:
8 weeks X the number of working days in the week
Example:
If the female employee worked 5 days in a week, the number of maternity leaves to be flexed is computed as follows:
8 weeks X 5 days = 40 working days
If the employee agreed to work 3 days out of 5 days per week and take the remaining 2 days in the week as flex maternity leave, the 40 days of flex maternity leave will be consumed in 20 weeks.
The employer and the employee should also anticipate and agree on an approach to deal with possible situations that may arise from taking the leave flexibly. For example, how the employee's work performance will be assessed when she is on flexible leave, whether she can go back to taking the maternity as a continuous block subsequently, and whether she can bring forward her flexible leave if she resigns or her contract ends within 12 months from the childbirth.
The employer is not obliged to consent to the employee's request to take the extended 8 weeks of maternity leave flexibly. If the employer assess that this will adversely affect his business operations, the employee will have to take the extended 8 weeks of maternity leave as a continuous block immediately after the first 8 weeks.
The employer can work out any flexible arrangement with the employee that best suits the needs of both parties. For example, the employee could, after 8 weeks of maternity leave,
a) return to work on a half day scheme;
b) be on a shortened workweek of say, 3 days
until the flexed leave (maximum 48 days) is exhausted.
Whichever form it takes, both the employer and the employee must mutually agree to the arrangement.
Sick leave entitlement during maternity leave
The employee is not entitled to paid sick leave while on maternity leave.
The employee is not eligible to claim for medical expenses incurred in connection with the delivery of her child unless it is provided in the employment contract.
Dismissal/Retrenchment/Employer’s obligations
An employer is prohibited from dismissing an employee who is on maternity leave. An employer who does so will be liable to a fine and/or imprisonment.
If a notice of dismissal is given without sufficient cause within 6 months of an employee's confinement, the employer must pay her the maternity benefits that she would otherwise be eligible for.
If the employee is retrenched within 3 months of her confinement, the employer must pay her the maternity benefits that she would otherwise be eligible for. This payment is in addition to any retrenchment benefit which the employee is entitled to.
An employer cannot employ an employee at any time during the 4 weeks immediately following her confinement. An employer also cannot contract out the maternity benefits.
Dismissal/ Retrenchment/ Employer's Obligations applies to employees under Employment Act or Child Development Co-Savings Act.
Employee’s obligations
An employee cannot resign from service while she is on maternity leave and use the maternity benefit period as notice of termination.
She also cannot work for another employer during the period of her maternity leave. If she does so, her maternity benefit will be forfeited. She may also be dismissed.
An employee can claim paid maternity leave benefits from more than one employer, if she was working for multiple employers before she gave birth.
Disputes
In the case of a dispute, the employee should first speak with the employer to understand the reason for dismissal. If she thinks that she has been unfairly dismissed, the employee can:
• Seek the union's help (if she is a union member);
• Seek legal help; or
• Submit an appeal to the Minister for Manpower within two months after the child's birth.
Employee's Obligations applies to employees under Employment Act or Child Development Co-Savings Act.
Claims and reimbursements
For information on claims and reimbursement procedures, please refer to MCYS at the Pro-Family leave website.
The above information is extracted from Ministry of Manpower on 12 June 2009. Please click here for latest updates.