Under the Children Development Co-Savings Act, an employee is entitled to maternity benefits if:
a) The child is:
i) A Singapore citizen;
ii) Legitimate; and
iii) Is the employee's first to fourth child (in birth order); and
b) The employee has worked for the employer for at least 180 days before the child's birth.
If the mother does not meet criterion (i) and/or (ii) at the time of confinement, but meets them within six months of the child's birth, she will be eligible for the remaining Government-Paid Maternity Leave from the date she meets all the criteria. The remaining maternity leave entitlement must be taken before the child turns 6 months old. She will not be eligible for the maternity leave that has lapsed. This applies only to children born after 1 March 2007.
An employee covered under the Employment Act is entitled to maternity benefits under the Act for all other births.
For claim and reimbursement procedures, or to submit a claim, please refer to the Family and Community Development website.
An eligible female employee is entitled to absent herself from work for four weeks immediately before and eight weeks immediately after delivery, totalling 12 weeks.
Where there is a mutual agreement with the employer, the extended four weeks (9th to 12th week) of maternity leave can be taken flexibly over a six-month period after the child's birth. The employee can consume an equivalent of four weeks' worth of working days flexibly, up to a maximum of 24 days.
Under the Employment Act, an employer is required to continue paying an employee her usual salary, i.e. her monthly gross rate of pay including allowances for the first eight weeks of maternity leave if the employee:
a) Has been employed for at least 180 days before the date of delivery;
b) Has less than two children of her own at the time of delivery:
In the case of multiple births (e.g. twins, triplets etc) during the first pregnancy, the employer is still required to pay the next 8 weeks maternity leave; and
c) Has given the employer at least one week's notice before going on maternity leave, and informed her employer as soon as practicable of her delivery.
Otherwise, the employee is only entitled to half the payment during the maternity leave, unless she can show sufficient cause that prevented her from giving such notice to the employer.
If the employee qualifies for government-paid maternity leave under the Children Development Co-Savings Act:
If the employee does not qualify for government-paid maternity leave:
Entitlement of Maternity Leave Benefit for a Single (unmarried) female employee
A single (unmarried) female employee is entitled to maternity leave benefit if she is covered under the Employment Act. She will be entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave for all confinements. The first 8 weeks of maternity leave for the first 2 confinements will be employer-paid if she has served the employer for at least 180 days. Beyond this, she will not be entitled to any payment during her maternity leave, unless her employer chooses to pay her voluntarily. She will also not qualify for Government-paid maternity leave.
Eligibility of Maternity Leave for a female employee's child who is not a Singapore citizen
If the child is not a Singapore citizen, the female employee will still be entitled to 12 weeks of statutory maternity leave for all births if she is covered under the Employment Act. She will be paid for the first 8 weeks of maternity leave if she has fewer than 2 living children (excluding the newborn), and she has worked for the employer for at least 180 days before the birth of the child. Beyond the first 8 weeks, maternity payment from the employer is voluntary and the employer is not entitled to claim any reimbursement from the government.
Eligibility of Extended Maternity Leave for a foreigner or PR working in Singapore
Any female employee covered under the Employment Act has the right to take leave of absence from work for 12 weeks when she delivers a baby, regardless of her (or the baby's) nationality or the baby's birth order. The maternity leave is paid by the employer only for the first 8 weeks of each leave period taken for the first 2 confinements. The employee will only be eligible for the government-paid maternity leave under the Children Development Co-Savings Act if she satisfies the following conditions:
a) the child is a Singapore citizen; and
b) legitimate; and
c) 1st to 4th child in birth order; and
d) the female employee has worked for the employer for at least 180 days before the birth of the child
If the mother does not meet criterion (i) and/ or (ii) at the time of confinement, but meets them within six months of the child's birth, she will be eligible for the remaining Government-Paid Maternity Leave from the date she meets all the criteria. The remaining maternity leave entitlement must be taken before the child turns 6 months old. She will not be eligible for the maternity leave that has lapsed. This applies only to children born after 1 March 2007.
An employee covered under the Employment Act is entitled to maternity benefits under the Act for all other births.
Employee on fixed-term contract/temporary/part-time basis
An employee on fixed term contract, temporary and part-time employment is entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave, provided she satisfies the eligibility conditions under the Employment Act or the Children Development Co-Savings Act. If she is eligible for paid maternity leave, she will be paid at the gross rate for each day that she would normally have been required to work under her contract of service.
Employee on probation
It does not matter that an employee is on probation, as long as the employee has worked for the employer for at least 180 days before the birth of the child and meets the other eligibility criteria for maternity leave under the Employment Act or the Children Development Co-Savings Act.
Maternity Leave Benefits for employee with twins or more
The employer is not required to double her maternity benefits for the birth of her twins. Eligible mothers with multiple births during the first 2 confinements are granted 8 weeks of employer-paid maternity leave.
If they are covered by the Children Development Co-Savings Act (CDCA), they will be eligible for another 4 weeks of government-paid maternity leave. For the third confinement onwards, 12 weeks of government-paid maternity leave will be granted to female employee covered by the CDCA if she has fewer than 4 living children (excluding the newborn) at the time of confinement.
Maternity Leave Benefits for employee with stillbirth
The employer is required to give her full maternity leave if the employee had a stillbirth. The stillbirth will not be counted in determining her eligibility for maternity leave benefits for the next confinement.
Maternity Leave Benefits for employee with abortion or miscarriage
Maternity benefits do not apply to such cases. However, she will be entitled to paid sick leave if she satisfies the qualifying conditions for paid sick leave.
Advance notice to employer before going on Maternity Leave
The employee must inform her employer as early as possible, at least one week before she starts taking maternity leave. She should also reach an agreement with the employer on how and when she intends to take the leave before she starts taking maternity leave. The 4 weeks of maternity leave immediately after the delivery of her child is compulsory.
Variation of Maternity Leave
A female employee can take a shorter period of pre-confinement leave (i.e. less than four weeks) so that she can have a longer period of post-confinement leave, if there is mutual agreement between the female employee and the employer. The total period of maternity leave is still subject to a maximum of 12 weeks.
Maternity Leave Benefits for employee with premature delivery
If a female employee has a premature delivery before she goes on her maternity leave, she can take the full 12 weeks of maternity leave if her employer agrees to it. However, if the female worker is unable to take the full 8 weeks of employer-paid maternity leave after her delivery, her employer should pay her wages for the period of her maternity leave which she has worked prior to her confinement.
Guidelines for employee to take extended 4 weeks of maternity leave flexibly
The extended 4 weeks of maternity leave may only be taken flexibly with the consent of the employer, and must be completed within 6 months of the birth of the child. The employer and the employee should discuss and come to an agreement before she goes on maternity leave. It can be taken on a stretch of 4 weeks or by working days capped at 24 days to be computed as follows:
4 weeks X the number of working days in the week
Example:
If the female employee worked 5 days in a week, the number of maternity leaves to be flexed is computed as follows:
4 weeks X 5 days = 20 working days
If the female employee agreed to work 3 days per week and take the remaining 2 days as flex maternity leave, the 20 days of flex maternity leave will be consumed by the 10 weeks.
The employer and the employee should also anticipate and agree on an approach to deal with possible situations that may arise from taking the leave flexibly. For example, how the employee's work performance will be assessed when she is on flexible leave, whether she can go back to taking the maternity as a continuous block subsequently, and whether she can bring forward her flexible leave if she resigns or her contract ends within 6 months from the childbirth.
The employer is not obliged to consent to the employee's request to take the extended 4 weeks of maternity leave flexibly. If the employer assess that this will adversely affect his business operations, the employee will have to take the extended 4 weeks of maternity leave as a continuous block immediately after the first 8 weeks.
The employer can work out any flexible arrangement with the employee that best suits the needs of both parties. For example, the employee could, after 8 weeks of maternity leave,
a) return to work on a half day scheme;
b) be on a shortened workweek of say, 3 days
until the flexed leave (maximum 24 days) is exhausted.
Whichever form it takes, both the employer and the employee must mutually agree to the arrangement.
Sick Leave Entitlement during Maternity Leave
The female employee is not entitled to paid sick leave wile on maternity leave.
The female employee is not eligible to claim for medical expenses incurred in connection with the delivery of her child unless it is provided in the employment contract.
An employer is prohibited from dismissing an employee who has taken maternity leave. However, this will not apply to the extended 4 weeks of maternity leave if it is taken flexibly over a period of time. An employer who does so will be liable to a fine and/or imprisonment.
If a notice of dismissal is given without sufficient cause within three months of a female employee's confinement, the employer must pay her the maternity benefits that she would otherwise be eligible for.
Employer cannot employ a female employee at any time during the 4 weeks immediately following her confinement. An employer cannot contract out the maternity benefit
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