The birth of a baby is an important moment for every mother.
The legislator has approved a number of rights and social guarantees for women expecting and raising small children.
Employers are not very happy when their employees are about to go on maternity leave, and sometimes this is expressed very clearly.
Therefore, it is very important to know how to properly go on maternity leave without frustration and while maintaining your rights.
Every woman should understand when she has the right to go on vacation, and what amounts she is entitled to according to the law.
Articles on the topic (click to view)
- Fine for late payment of vacation pay
- What to do with unused vacation
- What to do if your employer does not pay vacation pay
- How long after employment is vacation allowed?
- Is maternity leave taken into account when calculating pensions?
- Accounting for compensation for unused vacation
- Dismissal while on maternity leave
Definition
It is impossible to find a specific concept of maternity leave in the legislation. This is a colloquial phrase that is used by people. This type of vacation includes several periods:
- rest related to pregnancy and childbirth
- leave related to caring for a child up to one and a half and three years old
The following are entitled to take advantage of the right to such types of leave:
- women working officially
- expectant mothers arriving as unemployed
- students
- military personnel
Thus, a woman has the right to take advantage of the right to leave related to pregnancy and childbirth and to care for the baby. Men can also use maternity leave, but only after the birth of the child.
Also, other relatives who directly care for him have the right to take leave related to caring for their offspring. Usually grandmothers use it when they let their mother go to work.
The first part of maternity leave is issued upon provision of a certificate of incapacity for work, which is issued by a consultation doctor to the expectant mother. Its duration depends on the number of children in the womb and the complexity of the birth process:
- A standard certificate of incapacity for work contains one hundred and forty days.
- If there are several children in the womb, a woman will be given a certificate of incapacity for work for a period of 194 days.
- After the difficult process of childbirth, the mother is given a continuation of the certificate of incapacity for another 16 days.
Payment of benefits is made in calendar days, based on the average income for the two years preceding maternity leave. Let’s say a representative of the fair sex goes on maternity leave from March 1, 2020. When calculating benefits, the accountant will take into account her income for 2020 and 2020.
Thus, maternity leave is three periods of vacation. They are associated with the birth and upbringing of a child up to the age of three. At the same time, only the mother can use the first type; the next two periods can be used by the father, grandmother and other relatives caring for the baby.
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How long does it take to go on maternity leave?
Employed women begin their maternity leave with maternity leave.
According to the law, the expectant mother goes to wait for childbirth at 30 weeks.
The exception is multiple pregnancies.
Here a woman goes on maternity leave two weeks earlier.
In fact, it is impossible to equate all women to a single case. All representatives of the fairer sex carry a baby in different ways. Some already at five months feel that it is difficult for them to go to work.
Then they are looking for an answer to the question of how to properly go on maternity leave ahead of schedule. The expectant mother can take advantage of Art. 260 TK. It guarantees women the opportunity to take another vacation immediately before going on maternity leave. An employer does not have the right to refuse a woman, even if she has no vacation days.
Such a guarantee does not depend on how much the woman works in the last place. The main thing is to calculate from what day the sick leave will be issued and count the necessary vacation days from it. After this, you need to write a statement and take it to the HR department. So, the next vacation will smoothly turn into maternity leave.
Expert opinion
Novikov Oleg Tarasovich
Legal consultant with 7 years of experience. Specializes in criminal law. Member of the Bar Association.
There is also another option to go on maternity leave earlier and consult a doctor. Pregnancy is a condition that is directly related to peace of mind.
Poor environment and constant stress adversely affect the development of the baby. Therefore, you can ask the doctor to prescribe appropriate treatment in a day hospital.
That is, just go on regular sick leave before going on maternity leave.
When can you go on maternity leave early?
Pregnancy progresses differently for all women, and not always with ease. The law states that you can go on maternity leave only from 30 weeks. In some cases, you can go on such leave earlier than the due date, so women solve this problem using different methods.
Almost everyone has had or will go through pregnancy. Some people maintain their ability to work without any problems, get up early, do extra work, and manage to get things done around the house with ease. Some feel bad: constant fatigue, exacerbation of old diseases, the appearance of edema, uterine tone, high or low blood pressure. Situations often arise when it is necessary to be treated with medications or observed in a hospital setting.
Normal pregnancy lasts 40 weeks. According to the law, a woman is entitled to exemption from work for 140 days, starting from 30 weeks.
If you have certain health problems, then you should visit your primary care physician and talk about your condition. He will issue a sick leave certificate, which will allow you to legally not attend work. In case of exacerbations of any old diseases, it is better to contact the appropriate doctor; for example, for gastritis, you should contact a gastroenterologist.
In case of a difficult pregnancy, threat of miscarriage, or similar problems, you should contact a gynecologist directly, who monitors how the pregnancy is progressing. He will give a referral to a hospital for treatment and monitoring of the child.
You can also go on your next annual vacation. According to the law, a woman is entitled to it even regardless of her work experience.
If there are children under 14 years of age, if they become ill, the pediatrician will grant sick leave regardless of how old the woman is. Regardless of the situation, a woman has many options for solving the problem with early maternity leave and independent methods.
Benefits
Many women are interested in how to properly leave work on maternity leave.
A woman should not allow her rights to be infringed.
To do this, she needs to carefully study the legislation.
The state has already protected this category of people; the main thing is to be able to use it.
An employer who sees that a woman knows her rights will not want to get involved with the labor inspectorate or the prosecutor's office.
There are several payments that a representative of the fair sex receives from the moment of pregnancy until the baby is one and a half years old. The main ones are benefits for 2020:
- For registration in the early stages of pregnancy - 613.14 rubles. There is a mandatory condition here: registration with a consultation before twelve weeks of pregnancy.
- Related to pregnancy and childbirth. Payment in calendar days based on earnings for the previous two years.
- Child care for a child under 3 years old in most regions is 50 rubles. This payment is made at the expense of the employer. If a third child is born in a family, the mother will receive an allowance in the amount of the subsistence level until the child turns three years old.
- From the moment the baby is born, the mother and father have the right to claim a tax deduction. It is an amount that is not subject to personal income tax.
This is important to know: Vacation reserve order: 2020 sample
Here is a basic list of benefits related to the birth of a baby. Each region can establish its own individual subsidies to support families with children.
Is it possible to go on maternity leave later than 30 weeks legislation
These documents are the basis for drawing up the appropriate order. Application for maternity leave sample 2020 - how to write an application The application is written in free form, but indicating the details of the company, the name of the boss, a list of documents that have been provided (sick leave), the signature of the applicant and a statement of the essence. Maternity leave in 2020: new law We will look at what maternity leave will be like in 2020 in the article.
Leave to care for a child under 3 years of age is also issued upon the application of the mother in the name of the employer. During the period of its validity, the mother is paid monthly compensation in the amount of 50 rubles , and if a woman is employed in several organizations, she has the right to receive this payment in each of them.
Rights of pregnant women
The authorities of our country are committed to protecting the rights of pregnant women, as well as young children. Therefore, the law provides many benefits and subsidies for these categories of persons. Basic privileges of women:
- maintaining a job, salary and position
- It is prohibited to fire pregnant women and women on maternity leave
- there is a ban on hiring women to work overtime, holidays, and at night
- You can't send an expectant mother on a business trip
- liberation from hard and harmful work
- the opportunity to use your next vacation at a convenient time
- possibility of introducing reduced working hours
Even when a representative of the fair sex does not work at full capacity, the organization must maintain her average earnings. If an employer asks a woman to quit and promises that she will not lose anything by doing so, you should not follow the lead. After all, women who are officially employed have the greatest privileges.
From the video you can learn how to apply for maternity leave:
Early maternity leave
Under normal conditions (when expecting the birth of one child, when the pregnancy is not complicated by diseases of the expectant mother and a caesarean section is not planned), a pregnant woman receives sick leave at the thirtieth week of pregnancy.
The employer’s obligation to provide maternity leave is legislated in Article 255 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
Expert opinion
Novikov Oleg Tarasovich
Legal consultant with 7 years of experience. Specializes in criminal law. Member of the Bar Association.
Also in paragraphs 46, 47, 48, 49, 51 of the Procedure for issuing certificates of incapacity for work, approved by Order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia dated June 29, 2011 No. 624n, the following duration of maternity leave is provided:
- 140 calendar days for a singleton pregnancy under normal circumstances (70 calendar days prenatal);
- 156 calendar days (of which 16 calendar days are additional after birth) in case of complicated childbirth during a singleton pregnancy;
- 156 calendar days if birth occurred between 22 and 30 weeks of pregnancy;
- 194 calendar days, including 84 prenatal days, if multiple births are diagnosed during pregnancy;
- 194 calendar days, including 54 additional calendar days after childbirth if multiple births are determined during childbirth;
- 160 calendar days and of these 90 prenatal days, if the woman lives or works in a place of radioactive contamination.
Important! The number of days is calculated in total and does not depend on how many of them the pregnant woman used before giving birth.
Employee V. received a certificate of incapacity for work (for pregnancy and upcoming childbirth) on October 10, 2017. The doctor set the birth date as December 21, 2020. V. gave birth to a child without complications on December 11, that is, she managed to use 60 days before giving birth. However, regardless of this, she will have to return to work (as indicated on the sick leave) in 140 days, that is, on March 5, 2020 (since March 3 is a Saturday and a day off).
Going on maternity leave a month earlier
You can also add annual paid leave to sick leave in connection with pregnancy and childbirth (the standard is 28 calendar days, which will allow you to go on maternity leave a month earlier than the statutory period). For some categories of workers, the annual rest period is much longer than usual and significantly allows them to extend maternity leave (for example, civil servants, medical and teaching workers).
Attention! An employee in this position can use the right to rest at any time convenient for her. The approved vacation schedule at the enterprise is not an obstacle for her.
Since the possibility of early receipt of sick leave for pregnancy and childbirth is not legally established, women have the opportunity to increase their maternity leave through other options, such as:
- annual paid leave, leave without pay;
- sick leave due to illness and poor health.
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Early maternity leave due to health problems
In case of complications in a pregnant woman, the law does not provide for her right to go on maternity leave early. However, nothing prevents a pregnant woman, if she has health problems that interfere with the normal performance of work functions, from voicing her concerns to the doctor managing her pregnancy.
To maintain the normal moral and physical condition of the expectant mother, the doctor will issue her a certificate of incapacity for work. A pregnant woman will be able to go to hospital or be regularly monitored while staying at home and not going to work. This will give her the opportunity to rest before the time of official maternity leave.
Health problems can occur not only for the pregnant woman herself, but also for her minor son or daughter (under the age of 14). If this happens, the employee can legally take out sick leave for herself to care for a sick child. This will allow you to get a few days of rest before the official maternity leave. Moreover, such certificates of incapacity for work do not apply to maternity leave and are paid in the usual manner based on the woman’s insurance record.
If there are complications during childbirth, you can expect a longer postpartum period (caesarean section, birth of more than one child, premature birth).
Early maternity leave by agreement of the parties
Sometimes a pregnant employee negotiates with her employer and takes unpaid leave. This is done in the case when she has already used her annual paid leave, she feels excellent, her pregnancy is proceeding normally, her children are not sick (if she has any), and the doctor does not find any reason to write out a sick leave.
Early maternity leave during multiple pregnancy
If a woman is expecting the birth of two or more babies, she can officially leave the workplace by going on maternity leave from the 28th week of pregnancy. An additional 14 days are given to her due to the fact that the very state of carrying a baby is a special burden on the body, and when two or even more children are preparing to be born, it is very difficult. The employee is simply not able to fully perform the work in this situation at a later date.
This is important to know: Application for unpaid leave: sample 2020
Is it possible to officially go on maternity leave ahead of schedule?
According to the provisions of Article 255 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation, pregnant women are provided with 140 days of rest, which are divided into two equal parts before and after childbirth.
But some are concerned about whether it is possible to go on maternity leave before 30 weeks - the standard period during which it is allowed to stop performing work duties. There are exceptions in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation and in a number of other legal acts.
Registration procedure
The procedure for registering for maternity leave is standard:
- a woman receives sick leave;
- presents it to the employer and notifies him that he is going on maternity leave;
- receives due payments;
- After giving birth, she rests for a set period of time and either goes to work or goes on maternity leave to care for a child up to three years old.
By agreement with the employer, during the period of caring for a child up to three years old, the employee has the right to work part-time. Or do work from home. At the same time, she will not lose the right to the benefits she receives (Part 3 of Article 256 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation).
Sometimes the opposite situation occurs: a pregnant employee wants to work longer, sometimes performing work duties until the birth. In this case, she receives only wages, since benefits are not payable at the same time. Also, a pregnant woman can refuse to issue a sick leave certificate at the antenatal clinic at the due date (usually 30 weeks), but receive it later.
Payments to a working woman are made taking into account her income for the two years preceding the maternity leave. If at this time there were excluded periods (for example, sick time, maternity leave, parental leave), then the employee can replace them with other periods. When the length of service before maternity leave is insufficient (the woman worked for less than six months), then payments will be calculated according to the minimum wage.
We describe typical ways to resolve legal issues, but each case is unique and requires individual legal assistance.
To quickly resolve your problem, we recommend contacting qualified lawyers on our website.
How many options to go on maternity leave later?
Maternity leave is not an obligation, but simply a right of every woman. It is for this reason that in order to provide it, the employer requires a statement. If you wish, you can write it on a date other than the one indicated on the sick leave certificate.
But here it is worth keeping in mind that no employer will pay extra for such heroism. The whole point is that the vacation will end exactly when the date written on the sick leave arrives. For the time that a woman works without being on maternity leave, she will not receive benefits, but only a salary. And since the first is paid in the amount of 100% of average earnings and, in addition, no tax is paid for it, then from the point of view of material benefits it is better to go on time.
In addition, you don’t have to sit on maternity leave, but go straight to work. But you just need to remember that from the point of view of health care, such an act will not bring any benefit to anyone.
Reasons for early exit
Women whose pregnancy has complications need to minimize the impact of external factors on the body, as well as reduce stress levels.
There are several official reasons for which you can stop working early during pregnancy:
The law provides the opportunity to use administrative days, but their number is limited.
Therefore, you can always reach a consensus with management and draw up an additional agreement to the contract, on the basis of which rest during pregnancy is provided beyond what is regulated by law. This is especially true when a woman works in hazardous work or does hard work without the opportunity to transfer to another position.
For health
Pregnancy does not always go well. Various deviations may be observed. Some of them periodically cause miscarriage. To reduce the likelihood of abortion in this way, doctors issue sick leave to women.
However, this is not maternity leave. That is, when a pregnant woman is at risk of miscarriage at any stage, she is given a bulletin and hospitalization is strongly recommended.
Sometimes an employer may doubt the legitimacy of issuing sick leave. Then you can submit a request to the FSS so that employees of this department conduct an internal audit. If everything is in order, sanctions cannot be used against the employee.
Expert opinion
Novikov Oleg Tarasovich
Legal consultant with 7 years of experience. Specializes in criminal law. Member of the Bar Association.
It is necessary to understand that the gynecologist can extend the certificate of incapacity and issue it if there is a suspicion of termination of pregnancy or during abnormal development of the fetus. This means that a woman may not work throughout her pregnancy.
During multiple pregnancy
The presence of two or more fetuses makes it possible to go on full maternity leave until the 30th week. The Labor Code of the Russian Federation allows you to reduce the performance of professional duties by two weeks, if there are no medical instructions to do this earlier.
To be able to officially register a maternity leave at 28 weeks, you must:
- obtain a certificate from a doctor confirming the fact of multiple pregnancy;
- provide it to the employer;
- comply with all procedural norms in order to stop performing work duties before childbirth.
Thus, in this case, it is possible to legally go on maternity leave at 28 weeks.
By agreement of the parties
This method is the most popular if a girl works in hazardous work or is unable to perform her duties for various reasons. However, the employer cannot transfer her to another position. In this case, an agreement between the parties is required.
The agreement is drawn up on an A4 sheet, it must contain the following points:
- subject of the contract;
- names of the parties;
- rights and obligations;
- details of the parties.
It will not be possible to format a document as an attachment, since there is no information about it in the source document.
The following schemes for increasing maternity leave are also allowed:
- going on leave without pay at the initiative of the employer or employee;
- provision of regular paid leave;
- dismissal from work as a result of the inability to use an alternative.
In fact, a woman stops working earlier, getting what she wants. However, this vacation is not legally connected with pregnancy and childbirth.
This is important to know: Application for leave followed by dismissal: sample 2020
How to leave work early?
You need to know how to officially go on maternity leave ahead of schedule. This can only be done in case of multiple pregnancy.
The following actions need to be taken:
- obtain a doctor’s certificate confirming the presence of two or more fetuses. It should also indicate the due date and PDA (estimated date of birth). Additionally, you need to take a certificate of incapacity for work;
- submit documents to the employer;
- write an application for maternity leave. It is compiled on an A4 sheet of paper, where the text is approximately the following: “I ask that you grant me maternity leave from “___” _________ 20__ to “___” _________ 20__.” At the end, the attachments are indicated and dated with a signature;
- if there is a certificate of early registration, this must also be provided.
If you plan to take leave without pay or annual paid leave followed by maternity leave, you should indicate this in the application. A certificate of early registration is required to receive additional payment. Funds are transferred before the end of maternity work.
The amount of payment depends on the woman’s average earnings over the last 12 months. That is, the accountant must make the calculation and transfer the money to the employee before the 28th week of pregnancy. Therefore, the application should be written in advance. It takes a certain amount of time for the payment to be calculated.
An order must also be issued to provide a specific employee with maternity leave during a specified period. Based on it, you can transfer accrued funds. They are not subject to personal income tax, and in the financial report of the organization it is required to indicate the sick leave code to explain why 13% was not withheld.
Thus, it is possible to officially stop working in connection with preparation for childbirth only in case of multiple pregnancy. If it is not possible to continue working at the enterprise, since there is a threat of miscarriage, it is necessary to take out sick leave or negotiate with management about a transfer to another position.
How to correctly calculate the date of maternity leave?
Stories about how you can deceive a doctor and thereby influence the date when you can go on maternity leave remain relevant only for memories of Soviet medicine. In modern Russia, research methods can determine the age of an unborn baby with an accuracy of one day.
Based on the words of the pregnant woman, the observations of the gynecologist and data from ultrasound protocols, not only the expected date of birth is determined, but also the day of the start of the BIR leave. Since the discrepancy is usually only a few days, a woman, as a rule, does not have any difficulties with how to independently calculate when to go on maternity leave. In a normal pregnancy, you can apply for a certificate of incapacity for work the very next day after the end of the thirtieth week.
It will be more difficult for those women who decided to delay preparing for childbirth and missed a visit to the doctor. Under the pretext of feeling good, some of them decide to work longer in order to improve their financial situation, postponing the dates of maternity leave.
In this case, it is necessary to remember that the doctor cannot postpone the start date of maternity leave, even if the pregnant woman refused to receive sick leave or arrived late for it.
In such situations, the procedure provides for the possibility of issuing a document on disability “retrospectively”. That is, the actual date of receipt of sick leave will be indicated, but the start date of the maternity leave must coincide with the day of expiration of 30 (sometimes 28) weeks. Such a certificate of incapacity for work does not entail disciplinary measures against a late employee, especially if she spent all this time at the workplace.
Important! The employer must remember that it can either pay for the time worked or calculate maternity benefits for these days. Receiving two types of payments in one period will be considered illegal.
When you can go on maternity leave ahead of schedule - legal reasons for starting a vacation of up to 30 weeks
In order to officially register maternity leave for pregnancy, the employee must issue a certificate of incapacity for work.
In case of a singleton pregnancy, which occurs without complications and risks to the health of the mother and child, a sick leave certificate is issued starting from the 30th week and lasts for 140 calendar days.
Situations where it is possible to go on maternity leave ahead of schedule are taken into account.
The article describes typical situations. To solve your problem , write to our consultant or call for free:
I left maternity leave early, is it possible to go on maternity leave again?
Employers do not “like” maternity leave too much, since due to it the employee is not at work, and sometimes this causes downtime in a certain area of work responsibilities. Team members are afraid of an expectant mother's maternity leave, since there is a high probability that the responsibilities of an employee going on maternity leave will be assigned to them. Or a stranger will be accepted into an established, well-coordinated team for the period of maternity leave.
No, the employment relationship with a woman does not end due to maternity leave. The employer will not be able to ignore the need to pay sick leave or transfer child care benefits (after childbirth, after the expiration of the certificate of incapacity for work).
When is maternity leave due?
Officially, Russian legislation has identified 3 cases when every employed employee can go on maternity leave:
- starting from the 30th week of pregnancy until the end of 140 calendar days, when it proceeds without complications;
- starting from the 28th, if a woman is expecting the birth of two or more babies, the duration of such a maternity leave will be 194 days;
- starting from the 27th for women workers living in areas with special climatic conditions.
Important! If the pregnancy proceeds with complications and the birth was difficult, the employee’s vacation period is officially extended by 16 days, indicating them as data for recovery.
In this case, the woman will spend 156 days on maternity leave. To renew, she needs to write an application and the manager must approve the order.
Therefore, it is possible to go on maternity leave ahead of schedule (up to 30 weeks) if the employee has one of the above-described reasons taken into account by law.
The calculation and exact date of maternity leave is carried out by a doctor in the gynecological department, where the pregnant woman must first register. It is this date that is indicated on the sick leave, which must be provided at the place of work.
In case of complications or other peculiarities of the pregnancy process, the employee must request from her doctor supporting certificates and other documents, which will also be attached to the employee’s personal file. After this, you must write an application requesting maternity leave.
Up to 30 weeks due to health reasons
Expert opinion
Novikov Oleg Tarasovich
Legal consultant with 7 years of experience. Specializes in criminal law. Member of the Bar Association.
Officially, maternity leave is granted after receiving sick leave for pregnancy and childbirth and writing an application indicating the date of leave.
In normal situations, this is the period from the 30th week of pregnancy. But with multiple births, this period can be extended, and starts from the 28th. This point is also indicated on the certificate of incapacity for work.
It is noteworthy that sick leave for pregnancy is not provided before this period, and it is impossible to go on maternity leave before this time. But what to do if the employee has health problems even before the start of maternity leave?
Important! If problems arise with well-being, each employee can request sick leave for health reasons, during which he can improve it and resume work duties.
The same applies to employed women who are pregnant. If there is very little time left before going on maternity leave, but your health does not allow you to perform your work duties, you can go on sick leave earlier than due for health reasons (up to 30 or 28 weeks).
To go on vacation prematurely, you need to officially secure this period with certificates and relevant documents from the attending physician, and when the period of maternity leave begins, switch to it.
This will not increase the period of maternity leave, but will allow the expectant mother to take care of her health by taking additional sick leave.
Also, pregnant women are often interested in the possibility of later care - whether it is possible to go on maternity leave after 30 weeks.