What benefits do pregnant employees have and can they work part-time while on maternity leave?

What the law says about part-time mothers

Labor Code of the Russian Federation in Art. 282 regulates issues of external part-time work. This is additional employment in free time from the main one, that is, the same employment, only for shorter working hours.

IMPORTANT! Do not confuse part-time work with combination work: in the first case, the employee confirms employment with different employment contracts.

An employee (in our case, an employee) can work part-time at different enterprises, or at the same one, but simultaneously in several positions. The legislation does not limit the number of part-time positions held; the limit is only on additional work time - no more than 4 hours per working day.

Thus, from the point of view of the law, part-time work is a full-fledged workplace with the same responsibilities of the employer, which also applies to the provision of maternity leave. All requirements of the Labor Code in relation to a woman on maternity leave (saving a job, impossibility of dismissal, due payments, vacation periods) also apply to an additional employer.

NOTE! A woman who “works part-time” without concluding an employment contract cannot count on legal protection of her rights.

Providing maternity leave at the main job and part-time job

Due to the fact that part-time work involves a freer visiting schedule and a smaller volume, the employee has the opportunity to continue to carry out part-time work activities while on sick leave due to maternity leave. A woman independently makes the decision to go on sick leave when working part-time. There are three options:

1. Maternity leave for the main job coincides with leave for a part-time job.
2. Maternity leave at a part-time job begins later than leave at the main job.
3. Part-time work is not interrupted.

Leave or stay

A part-time woman is employed in an additional position for a relatively short time compared to the main one. Therefore, in the prospect of adding to her family, she needs to decide an important question: whether to leave an additional job or continue her “part-time job” without spending a lot of time on it. Many people decide to do this if they have someone to leave the baby with. This solution has a number of advantages:

• the woman receives additional funds;
• the mother has the opportunity not to get bogged down in the maternity routine and continue to improve as a specialist;
• working skills are not lost;
• psychological relief.

In this case, maternity leave needs to be taken out only at the main workplace, and at the additional one only to go on sick leave relating to childbirth.

Timing of maternity leave

If a woman leaves her job, the terms must be the same at all places of her employment. The law provides her with two types of maternity leave:

• for pregnancy and childbirth - 140 days in the case of a normal pregnancy and 194 in complicated cases (half before childbirth, half after);
• to care for the baby until he turns 1.5 years old (or 3, but the further period is paid only by compensation from the employer in the amount of 50 rubles per month).

You can submit documents to receive benefits within six months after receiving a certificate of temporary incapacity for work - this is a common practice for sick leave. If a woman quits her job and a month or less has passed since that moment, she can bring the piece of paper to her former employer.

How to apply for part-time parental leave

There are 2 types of maternity leave: for pregnancy and childbirth (hereinafter - Maternity leave) and for caring for a child under 3 years of age (hereinafter - UZR). You should know that part-time employees have the full right to receive guarantees and compensation, which are provided for by current legislation (Part 2 of Article 287 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

This rule also applies to the duration of vacation. Thus, the law can be applied to maternity leave by analogy with the requirements for simultaneously being on annual leave at all places of work (Article 286 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation). In addition, leave under UzR can be taken out by any employee who actually cares for their child, including an external part-time worker. This means that the head of the employing company (or individual entrepreneur) is obliged to provide this leave when the employee applies.

Registration of part-time leave under BiR

As stated in Art. 255 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, leave for labor and employment is provided at the request of the employee on the basis of sick leave. You can ask for a sample form from your employer’s HR department, or we suggest you familiarize yourself with it on our website:

You can find more complete information on the topic in ConsultantPlus. Full and free access to the system for 2 days.

The certificate of incapacity for work attached to the application is issued within the prescribed period in accordance with clause 46 of the order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia “Procedure for issuing certificates of incapacity for work” dated June 29, 2011 No. 624n.

Leave on the basis of sick leave is issued, as a rule, at the main place of employment. Its usual duration is from 140 to 194 days, depending on whether we are talking about a single or multiple pregnancy and how difficult the birth was. Read about how to calculate it correctly in our other article.

An employee can submit to her part-time job copies of sick leave certified for her main place of work (clause 17 of the FSS letter dated October 28, 2011 No. 14-03-18/15-12956) - they will serve as the basis for the legality of her absence from the workplace due to part-time job during the BiR leave.

But in order to receive B&R benefits, you need an original sick leave certificate for each employer. Moreover, these sheets must contain a mark characterizing the place of work: “Part-time” or “Primary” (Article 287 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).

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Applying for part-time parental leave

UzR leave is issued by the employee in accordance with Art. 256 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation on the basis of an application submitted to the employer. For part-time workers, such leave must be provided by each employer.

In this case, one of the parents and relatives of the child can use this leave in whole or in parts. Leave is provided by all employers until the child’s third birthday. When contacting the manager with an application for UzR leave, the employee must submit a document confirming that the other parent does not use the specified type of leave (Part 6, Article 13 of the Law “On Compulsory Social Insurance...” dated December 29, 2006 No. 255-FZ) .

Peculiarities of registration and payment of benefits when working for several insurers

Registration and payment of benefits for BiR and UzR are carried out by the insurer company at the employee’s place of employment (Part 1, Article 13 of Law No. 255-FZ). Moreover, if the employee at the time of the occurrence of the insurance event in question worked for 2, 3 or more employers, the following options are possible:

1. If she was employed by the same insurers in the previous 2 years, payments of benefits under BIR are made by each of them (i.e., each pays the amount due in full), and benefits under UzR are accrued and paid by only one - at the choice of the insured ( Part 2 of Article 13 of Law No. 255-FZ).
2. If she has not worked for them over the past 2 years, but was employed by other insurers, then the insured person of his choice turns to one of his previous employers to register and pay maternity and care benefits (Part 2.1 of Article 13 of the Law No. 255-FZ). At the same time, she will need to submit to the employer who will pay the benefit a certificate stating that the other companies where she works part-time do not pay such benefits (Parts 5.1 and 7 of Article 13 of Law No. 255-FZ).
3. If she worked for these and other employers in the previous 2 years, then the following options are possible:

• pregnancy benefits, according to Part 2 of Art. 13 of Law No. 255-FZ, are assigned and paid by all employers based on the calculation of average earnings during work (each in full), and care payments are made by only one of them at the choice of the insured;
• both benefits are paid by one of the employers at any of the employee’s last places of employment of his choice (Part 2.1, Article 13 of Law No. 255-FZ).

However, an employee will not be able to apply for employment and labor benefits twice from the same employer if she was employed by him both at her main place of work and part-time according to Art. 60.2 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. This is due to the fact that the income received from this employer is paid in the form of one salary, but double calculations of benefits are prohibited.

Procedure for future maternity leave

What is the right thing for a pregnant woman to do so that she can easily obtain maternity leave and the entitlements:

1. Register for pregnancy at the antenatal clinic. It is recommended to do this before the 12th week of pregnancy.
2. At the 30th week of pregnancy, obtain a sick leave certificate from her leading doctor with the start and end dates of temporary disability due to pregnancy and childbirth. Make a copy of it and have it notarized. The original is needed for the main place of work, a copy - for the additional one. You can ask for the required number of original sick leave documents to be issued at once.
3. Apply these documents to each of your employers by writing a corresponding application in the prescribed form. They write two separate statements - these are the grounds for calculating future payments.
4. If an employee has been working in a given company for less than two years, she will also need a certificate of previous two years of income. If there were none, the minimum wage will be taken as the basis for calculating the accruals due to it.
5. You can bring data from other places of work to your chosen manager and arrange to receive payments in one place, or you can contact each employer individually.

After writing an application with a certificate of temporary disability attached to it, the employer must take the necessary actions within 10 days. The only reason for refusal of payment is the provision of a fake sick leave certificate.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION! If a woman has been officially employed in several jobs for more than two years, she can count on insurance payments from each employer.

What payments are due to a part-time worker?

The law provides several options for assistance to a mother working several jobs, which she can receive from each employer or one of her own choosing:

• payment of sick leave at the rate of 100% of average earnings for the previous two years or from the minimum wage - at each enterprise;
• one-time payment for early registration at the antenatal clinic (up to the 12th week of pregnancy), a fixed amount of 613 rubles 14 kopecks - at any place of work, but only one at a time;
• at the birth of a baby - a one-time amount of 16,350 rubles and 33 kopecks;
• child care payments once a month, 40% of the average salary - from one of the employers (not necessarily the main one, it is chosen by the woman).

Maternity leave

A pregnant woman is entitled to leave under the BiR, which she goes on after writing an application, to which is attached a certificate of incapacity for work.

The total period for which such leave is granted is 140 days, 70 of which fall before the birth of the child, and 70 after.

Sometimes the duration of such leave increases, for example, if a woman had a multiple pregnancy or the birth was complicated. All the time a woman is on vacation, she is paid benefits. After the BiR leave, a young mother can go on maternity leave. To do this, the young mother writes a statement again. Such leave is provided until the child turns 3 years old. All this time, the employee retains her workplace. All of the above can be directly attributed to a woman’s main place of work. Whether a woman works part-time should not matter to the main employer. Even if she works somewhere else, the employer is obliged to transfer the payments due to her, as well as retain her place (Read also ⇒ Transition from maternity leave to maternity leave in 2020. How to apply?).

Rules for calculating part-time benefits

In the main, they do not differ from ordinary cases when the following indicators are taken into account:

• billing period – two years;
• average daily earnings;
• duration of vacation.

From 730 or 731 days (if it is a leap year), it is necessary to exclude the periods provided for by law (clause 3.1, article 14 of Federal Law No. 255):

• disability (illness);
• release from work;
• other maternity leaves.

Then you need to add bonuses, vacation pay, indexation, allowances and other payments to your salary during this time, and divide the amount by the number of days worked over 2 years. This will calculate the amount of average daily earnings - the basis for calculating sick leave payments. The number of days indicated in it should be multiplied by it. The fact of deductions to social insurance funds during the specified periods is of key importance.

FOR EXAMPLE. A woman working part-time received a sick leave certificate at the antenatal clinic, gave birth and returned to an additional place of work shortly after giving birth, using not the 140 days indicated on the certificate, but only 90. In this case, the average daily earnings for the previous two years will be multiplied by 90 – this is the amount she will receive in her hands. Taxes and insurance contributions are not deducted from it.

Features of assigning benefits to an external part-time worker

According to paragraph 1 of Art. 14, pp. 2–2.2 tbsp. 13 of Law No. 255-FZ, when assigning benefits to an external part-time worker, the following factors are taken into account:

• the presence of a part-time job at the time of maternity leave;
• the presence during the billing period (two previous years) of labor relations with the same or other employers.

Assignment of benefits for each place of work

In accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 13 of Law No. 255-FZ, maternity benefits are assigned and paid for each part-time job under the following conditions:

• if the part-time worker works for several employers at the time of maternity leave;
• if during the billing period the part-time worker was employed by the same employers.

Each employer, when assigning benefits, is guided by the average earnings of a part-time worker at a given place of work. In this case, earnings from another employer are not taken into account (clause 2 of article 13, clause 1 of article 14 of law No. 255-FZ).

Assignment of benefits for one of the last jobs

In accordance with clause 2.1 of Art. 13 of Law No. 255-FZ, benefits are assigned and paid at one of the last places of work at the choice of a part-time worker, provided:

• if the part-time worker works for several employers at the time of maternity leave;
• if during the billing period the part-time worker was employed by other employers.

In this case, when assigning benefits, the employer takes into account the earnings of the pregnant woman for the billing period from all employers (Clause 1, Article 14 of Law No. 255-FZ). The document confirming earnings is a certificate of the amount of wages for the previous 2 calendar years (approved by Order of the Ministry of Labor dated April 30, 2013 No. 182n).

You can fill out such a certificate here.

Assignment of benefits for each or one of the last jobs

In accordance with clause 2.2 of Art. 13 of Law No. 255-FZ, benefits are assigned and paid at the choice of a part-time worker for each place of work or for one of the last places of work, provided:

• if the part-time worker works for several employers at the time of maternity leave;
• if during the billing period the part-time worker worked simultaneously for the same and other employers.

If the benefit is assigned to one of the last places of work, then in accordance with clause 5.1 of Art. 13 of Law No. 255-FZ, a part-time worker must submit a certificate from his place of work with another employer, which confirms that benefits are not paid by the other employer.

NOTE! In the absence of this certificate, the FSS will refuse to reimburse the policyholder’s expenses. And the court will side with the fund (decision of the Rostov Region Arbitration Court dated April 15, 2015 in case No. A53-763/2015).

Example

Let's give an example of accounting for earnings for calculating benefits under the BiR, if a part-time maternity leaver worked for both her current employers and others for the last 2 years before the year of maternity leave.

Manager Smolenskaya is going on maternity leave in 2020. In 2018, she worked in her main place of work, and was a part-time worker. In 2020, she moved to her main place of work at Gamma, and remained a part-time worker at Beta. Now Smolenskaya continues to work in both “Beta” and “Gamma”.

Which procedure for calculating the B&R benefit can she choose:

• Both employers pay maternity leave: the Gamma organization, taking into account only their accruals for 2020, and their calculations for 2020 and 2020. Income received in is not taken into account by anyone.
• The benefit is paid only by the Gamma organization, taking into account the salary for 2020 paid by Beta, and for 2020 - the income paid by Gamma, as well as income in . At the same time, “Beta” must provide a certificate stating that it did not assign or pay benefits under the BiR.

To make it easier for you to understand the procedure for calculating benefits for a part-time worker, we have prepared a reminder diagram:

Check whether you have correctly calculated the maternity benefit for an external part-time worker, with the help of advice from ConsultantPlus. Get trial access to the system and proceed to the calculation example for free.

Benefit limits and part-time work

The state has established restrictions on the amount of payments to women on maternity leave: the limit is 266,191 rubles and 80 kopecks for normal childbirth, 296,207 rubles 93 kopecks for a caesarean section or the occurrence of postpartum complications, 368,361 rubles 15 kopecks for the birth of twins or triplets. For part-time workers, this limit will be taken into account for each place of work separately. Thus, it is completely legal for a woman to have the right to receive an amount that actually exceeds the limit.

The smallest amount guaranteed for a woman going on maternity leave is calculated according to the minimum wage and currently amounts to 34,520 rubles 55 kopecks for the usual case of uncomplicated childbirth with 140 days of sick leave.