HOUSE QF REPRESENTATIVES

RECEIVED
. ar pate:_30 JUN 2015
Republic of the Philippine penn
House of Representative: TINE:
Quezon City, Metro Manil BY:

REGISTRATION UNIT
BILLS AND INDEX

SEVENTEETH CONGRES:
First Regular Session

House Bill Number __ 509

Introduced by Representative ROLANDO G. ANDAYA, JR.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

The State recognizes the role of women in nation-building. It therefore
endeavors to provide them with equal protection and promote opportunities for social
and economic empowerment.

With the passage of the Magna Carta for Women, the State has affirmed its
denunciation of discrimination against women in all its forms as it pursues all
appropriate means to promote their protection.

To further strengthen the government's effort in dismantling all forms of inequity
against women, this measure aims to correct a law that has long deprived unmarried
women in government service in the availment of maternity benefits.

This measure aims to repeal Commonwealth Act No. 647 which grants maternity
leave benefits only to married female employees in the government. It also amends all
other laws that are detrimental to women's rights.

Through this bill, pregnant women are allowed to avail of maternity benefits
regardless of their civil or employment status, or whether they are employed in private
sector or in the government. It also expands the maternity period that can be availed of
in order to give them ample time for recovery and fulfil maternal roles.


Immediate approval of this measure is earnestly requested. Only when we have
eradicated all vestiges of discrimination against women can we sincerely claim that we
have fought to uplift the rights of women.

|

ROI 'G. ANDAYA, JR.


Republic of the Philippines
House of Representatives
Quezon City, Metro Manila

SEVENTEETH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

509

House Bill Number

Introduced by Representative ROLANDO G. ANDAYA, JR.

AN ACT INCREASING THE MATERNITY LEAVE PERIOD TO ONE HUNDRED (100)
DAYS FOR FEMALE EMPLOYEES IN THE GOVERNMENT SERVICE AND IN THE
PRIVATE SECTOR, AND GRANTING AN OPTION TO EXTEND FOR AN
ADDITIONAL THIRTY (30) DAYS WITHOUT PAY

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. — This Act shall be known as the “One Hundred (100)-
Day Maternity Leave Law’

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. — It is the declared policy of the State under Article
XIII, Sec. 14 of the 1987 Constitution to protect and promote the rights and welfare of
working women, taking into account their maternal functions, and to provide an enabling
environment in which their full potential can be achieved

Towards this end, and in consonance with local and international legal
instruments that protect and promote the rights of women, the State shall institutionalize
a mechanism to expand the maternity leave period of working women to provide them
with ample transition time to regain health and overall wellness as well as to assume
maternal roles before resuming full-time work.

SEC. 3. Maternity Leave for Female Employees in Government Service. - Any
pregnant female employee who is appointed in the government service, regardless of
employment status, in any National Government Agency (NGA), Local Government Unit


(LGU), or Government-Owned and Controlled Corporation (GOCC), shall be granted a
maternity leave of one hundred (100) days with full pay based on her verage weekly of
regular wages, regardless if the delivery was normal or through caesarian section, or for
sixty (60) days if the female employee suffered a miscarriage.

An additional maternity leave of thirty (30) days, without pay, can be availed of, at
the option of the employee: Provided, That the head of agency shall be given due
notice, in writing, at least forty-five (45) days before the end of her regular maternity
leave.

SEC. 4. Maternity Leave for Female Employees in the Private Sector. - Any
pregnant female employee in the private sector shall be granted a maternity leave of
one hundred (100) days, regardless if the delivery was normal or through caesarian
section, or for sixty (60) days if the female employee suffered a miscarriage.

(a) A female employee in the private sector who has paid at least three (3)
monthly contributions in the twelve-month period immediately preceding the
semester of her childbirth or miscarriage shall be paid her daily monthly
benefit, which shall be computed based on the average monthly salary credit,
for one hundred (100) days, regardless if the delivery was normal or through
caesarian section, or for sixty (60) days if the female employee suffered a
miscarriage, subject to the following conditions:

1) That the employee shall have notified her employer of her pregnancy and
the probable date of her childbirth, which notice shall be transmitted to the
Social Security System (SSS) in accordance with the rules and regulations
it may provide;

2)

That the full payment shall be advanced by the employer within thirty (30)
days from the filing of the maternity leave application;

3) That payment of daily maternity benefits shall be a bar to the recovery
sickness benefits provided under Republic Act No. 1161, as amended, for
the same period for which daily maternity benefits have been received;

4) That the maternity benefits provided under this Act shall be paid only for
the first four (4) deliveries or miscarriages;


5) That the SSS shall be immediately reimburse the employer one hundred
percent (100%) of the amount of matemity benefits advanced to the
employee by the employer upon receipt of satisfactory proof of such
payment and legality thereof; and

6) That if an employee member should give birth or suffer miscarriage
without the required contributions having been remitted for her by her
employer of the time of the pregnancy, the employer shall pay to the SSS
damages equivalent to the benefits which said employee member would

otherwise have been entitled to.

(b) An additional maternity leave of thirty (30) days, without pay, can be availed
of, at the option of the employee: Provided, That the employer shall be given
due notice, in writing, at least forty-five (45) days before the end of her regular
maternity leave.

(c) An employee availing of the maternity leave period and benefits must receive
not less than two-thirds (2/3) of their regular monthly wages. Employers from
the private sector shall be responsible to pay the salary differential between
the actual cash benefits received from the SSS by covered employees and
their average weekly or regular wages, for the entire duration of the regular
maternity leave, with the following exceptions, subject to the guidelines to be
issued by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE):

41) financially-distressed establishments, which are exempted from payment
of minimum wage as defined by the existing guidelines of the DOLE:

2) those retail/service establishments employing not more than ten (10)
workers;

3) those who pay their workers on a purely commission, boundary, or task
basis, and those who are paid a fixed amount for performing a specific
work;

4) those considered as micro business enterprises and engaged in the
production, processing, or manufacturing of products or commodities


including agro-processing, trading, and services whose total assets are
not more than Three Million Pesos (P3,000,000.00); and

5) those who are already providing similar or more than the benefits provided
under this Act.

SEC. 5. Non-diminution of Benefits. — Nothing in this Act shall be construed as to
diminish existing maternity benefits current granted by employer with or without
collective bargaining agreements (CBA), or under present laws, if more beneficial to the
female employee. Any other working arrangement which the female employee sha;
agree to, during the additional maternity leave period, shall be allowed: Provided, That
this shall be consented to in writing by the employee and shall primarily consider her
maternal functions and post-natal care

SEC. 6. Security of Tenure. — Those who shall avail of the regular maternity
leave and the additional 30-day maternity leave, whether in the government service or
private sector, shall be assured of security of tenure. As such, the exercise of this
option by them shall not be used as a basis for demotion in employment or termination.
The transfer to a parallel position or reassignment from one organizational unit to
another in the same agency shall be allowed: Provided, That it shall not involve a
reduction in rank, status or salary.

SEC. 7. Periodic Review. - The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS)
and the SSS shall immediately conduct a review of the matemity leave benefits of
women employee in the government service and the private sector, respectively,
Thereafter, they shall include maternity leave benefits in their valuation report
conducted every four (4) years for the SSS and every three (3) years for the GSIS, or
more frequently as may be necessary, with the end view of meeting the needs of
pregnant women and improving their welfare by increasing existing maternal benefits.

SEC. 8. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — The Civil Service Commission
(CSC), the DOLE, together with the GSIS and the SSS shall issue the necessary rules
and regulations for the grant of this expanded maternity leave for all female employees
within six (6) months from the effectivity of this Act.

SEC. 9. Separability Clause. — If, for any reason, a provision or part hereof is
declared invalid, other provisions not affected thereby shall remain in full force and
effect.


SEC. 10. Repealing Clause. - Commonwealth Act No. 647 Is hereby repealed.
Section 11, Book V of Executive Order No. 292 (Omnibus Rules on Leaves) and Rule
XVI of the Omnibus Rules implementing it, Article 133 of Presidential Decree No. 442 or
the Labor Code of the Philippines, and Section 14-A of Republic Act No. 1161, as
amended, are hereby further amended. Any other law, decree, executive order, rules
and regulations contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby
repealed or modified accordingly.

SEC. 11. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation.

Approved,