Women have the privilege of 'paid leave'

Do you know how many days off you can take when you are pregnant or have an IUD inserted without your boss making things difficult for you?

*When pregnant, how many times can women take time off work to go for prenatal checkups?

Article 32 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 stipulates:

- During pregnancy, female employees are allowed to take leave from work to go for prenatal check-ups 5 times, one day each time.

- In case the medical examination and treatment facility is far away or the pregnant woman has a medical condition or an abnormal pregnancy, she is allowed two days off for each prenatal examination.

- The maternity leave period prescribed in this Article is calculated in working days, excluding holidays, Tet holidays, and weekly days off.

* How many days off work do women get when using birth control?

According to Article 37 of the Law on Social Insurance, when implementing contraceptive measures, employees are entitled to maternity benefits as prescribed by competent medical examination and treatment facilities. The maximum leave period is prescribed as follows:

- 7 days for female workers using IUDs;

- 15 days for employees undergoing sterilization.

- The maternity leave period prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article includes holidays, Tet holidays, and weekly days off.

* Is the husband entitled to leave when his wife gives birth?

Clause 2, Article 34 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 stipulates that male employees who are paying social insurance when their wives give birth are entitled to take maternity leave as follows:

- 5 working days;

- 7 working days when the wife gives birth by surgery or gives birth before 32 weeks of age;

- In case the wife gives birth to twins, she is entitled to 10 working days off; from triplets onwards, she is entitled to 3 additional working days off for each additional child;

- In case the wife gives birth to twins or more and has to have surgery, she is entitled to 14 working days off.

The maternity leave period prescribed in this clause is calculated within the first 30 days from the date the wife gives birth.

* Are surrogate mothers entitled to maternity benefits?

Article 35 of the Law on Social Insurance 2014 stipulates the maternity regime for female employees who are surrogate mothers and mothers who use surrogacy as follows:

- Female employees who are surrogate mothers are entitled to benefits when having pregnancy check-ups, miscarriages, abortions, stillbirths or pathological abortions, and benefits when giving birth until the time the child is handed over to the mother who requested the surrogacy, but not exceeding the time specified in Clause 1, Article 34 of this Law.

- In case the period from the date of birth to the time of delivery of the child is less than 60 days, the surrogate mother is still entitled to maternity benefits until the 60 days are up, including holidays, Tet holidays, and weekly days off.

- The surrogate mother is entitled to maternity benefits from the time of receiving the child until the child is 6 months old.

*How is maternity leave calculated?

According to the provisions of Articles 34 and 35 of the Law on Social Insurance, female employees receive 100% of the average monthly salary and wages for social insurance contributions of the 6 consecutive months before leaving work.

In addition, female workers are also entitled to a one-time allowance upon giving birth equal to two months of the general minimum wage.

For medical examination and treatment costs and childbirth as prescribed in Article 22 of the Law on Health Insurance, employees are covered by health insurance for 80% of the costs and they must bear 20% of the costs.

According to Article 39 of the Law on Social Insurance, for employees who have paid social insurance for less than 6 months, the maternity benefit is the average monthly salary of the months in which social insurance has been paid. In case there are odd days, the daily benefit is calculated by dividing the monthly allowance by 30 days.

According to VNE