Bere R TPRESENTATIVES:

Republic of the Philippines

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES | ®CCEIVED
cuencny | are 06 SEP 2018
awe SIM
SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS TAL
First Regular Session ay

REG'STR ATION UNIT
HOUSE BILLNO.2 O23 | BiLs aw ior x SERVICE

Introduced by REP. MERCEDES K. ALVAREZ

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Pregnancy and maternity are momentous events in a woman's life.. yet it is also a
time when they are most vulnerable. Expectant and nursing mothers need adequate time
to give birth, recover and nurse their children, without having to worry that they will lose
their jobs because of their pregnancy.

As early as 1919, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has sought to
safeguard women's employment and income security during and beyond matemity by
adopting Maternity Protection Convention 1919 (No. 3). This was followed in 1952 by the
Revised Maternity Protection Convention (No. 103) and by the most recent, Matemity
Protection Convention No. 183 and its accompanying Recommendation No. 191, adopted
in 2000

Matemity Protection Convention No. 183 provides for 14 weeks of maternity benefit
to women, a cash benefit — which shall be no less than two-thirds of her previous earnings
or a comparable amount — to ensure that they will be able to maintain themselves and their
child in proper conditions of health and a suitable standard of living, and protection from
discrimination based on maternity.

While the Philippines has not ratified this convention, our Constitution nonetheless
mandates that “the State (shall) protect working women by providing safe and healthful
working conditions, taking into account their maternal functions, and such facilities and
opportunities that will enhance their welfare and enable them to realize their full potential in
the service of the nation.” (Article XIII, Section 14 of the 1987 Constitution)

Laws granting maternity protection have likewise been enacted. Section 11 of the
Omnibus Rules Implementing Book V of Executive Order No. 292, as prescribed in the
Revised Administrative Code of 1987, provides that “(E)very woman in the government
service who has rendered an aggregate of two (2) or more years in service shall, in
addition to the vacation and sick leave granted to her, be entitled to maternity leave of sixty
(60) calendar days with full pay.” In the private sector, Republic Act No. 1611, as
amended’, gave working women in the private sector “ a daily maternity benefit equivalent
to one hundred percent (100%) of her basic salary, allowances and other benefits, or the
cash equivalent of such benefits for sixty (60) days, or seventy eight (78) days in case of
caesarian delivery.”

1 Amended by RA 7322 in 1992, and by RA 8282 or the “Social Security Act of 1997"


However, our laws still fall short of the 14-weeks maternity leave standard
prescribed by ILO Matemity Protection Convention No. 183.

This bill seeks to increase the matemity leave benefit of all working women to One
Hundred (100) Days, thereby providing for the well-being of pregnant women, new
mothers and their families and allowing our laws to conform to the international labor
standards on matemity protection.

Considering its importance, the passage of this bill is earnestly sought.

) j
Met h By
REP/ MERCEDES K. ALVAREZ


Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

512
House Bill No. 3512

Introduced by REP. MERCEDES K. ALVAREZ

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

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

SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Expanded Maternity
Leave Act of 2017."

SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is the declared policy of the State under Article
XIll, 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, married or unmarried, who was appointed in government
service, regardless of employment status, in any National Government Agency (NGA),
Local Government Unit (LGU), or Government Owned and Controlled Corporations
(GOCC), shall be granted a maternity leave of One Hundred (100) Days, with full pay
based on her average weekly or regular wages, regardless of whether the delivery was
normal or caesarian

‘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 the agency shall be given due
notice, in writing, at least forty five (45) days before the end of her ordinary maternity
leave


SEC. 4. Matemity 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 of whether the delivery was normal or caesarian.

(a) Section 14-A of Republic Act 1161, as amended, otherwise known as the Social

Security Act of 1997, is hereby further amended to read as follows:

"Section 14-A, Maternity Leave Benefit. - A female member 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 [a] daily maternity benefit equivalent to] WHICH SHALL BE
COMPUTED BASED ON THE AVERAGE MONTHLY SALARY CREDIT,
fone hundred percent (100%) of her average daily salary credit for sixty
(60) days or seventy-eight (78) days in case of caesarian delivery] FOR
ONE HUNDRED (100) DAYS, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE
DELIVERY WAS NORMAL OR CAESARIAN, 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 in accordance with the rules and
regulations it may provide:

2) 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 of sickness benefits provided under Republic Act No. 1611, 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 immediately reimburse the employer of one
hundred percent (100%) of the amount of maternity 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 to the SSS, or without the latter having been previously
notified by the 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

(6) 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 ordinary maternity leave.

(c)_ Employees 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 pay the salary differential between the actual cash benefits received from the
SSS by the covered employees and their average weekly or regular wages, for the entire
duration of the ordinary maternity leave, except:

(a) those operating distressed establishments,

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

(c) 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;

(d) those considered as micro business enterprises and engaged in the
production, processing, or manufacturing or products or commodities
including agro-processing, trading, and services whose total assets are
not more than three million pesos (P 3,000,000.00); and

(e) 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 currently granted by the 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 shall 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 ordinary 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 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 Social Security System (SSS) shall immediately conduct a review of the maternity
leave benefits of women employees 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 in 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 Department of Labor and Employment (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

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. - All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and
regulations contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed or
modified accordingly, specifically Section 1 of Commonwealth Act No. 647, Section 11 of
the Omnibus Rules Implementing Book V of Executive Order No. 292 as prescribed in The
Revised Administrative Code of 1987, Article 133 of Presidential Decree No. 442 or the
Labor Code of the Philippines, and Section 14-A of Republic Act 1161, as amended.

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