Maternity leave
Maternity leave. How does it work, what are the options? What do you have to take into account as an employer and as an employee? We have listed the most frequently asked questions for you.
When you are pregnant, you are entitled to 6 weeks of maternity leave and at least 10 weeks of maternity leave. In total you are entitled to at least 16 weeks of leave. You may take part of the maternity leave in installments.
Maternity leave lasts up to and including the day of delivery. You calculate the start of the leave by counting back 6 weeks from the day after the due date of delivery.
You may choose to take maternity leave at a later date, then you may add that week or weeks to the maternity leave. You must take maternity leave no later than 4 weeks before the day after your due date of delivery. What you take less in 6 weeks of maternity leave, you add to your maternity leave.
Is your baby born after the due date of delivery? Then you add the days between birth and the due date of delivery to the period of 16 weeks. The total leave period then lasts longer than 16 weeks.
An example: you stop working 6 weeks before the day after the due date. Your baby will be born 2 weeks after this date. You then have 8 weeks of maternity leave and 10 weeks of maternity leave. You will then have 18 weeks of leave in total.
Was your baby born prematurely? Then you add the days that your maternity leave was shorter than 6 weeks to the maternity leave. The total leave period is always at least 16 weeks.
An example: you stop working 6 weeks before the day after the due date. Your baby will be born 1 week before that date. You then have 5 weeks of maternity leave and 11 weeks of maternity leave. You have a total of 16 weeks of leave.
Yes, since 1 January 2015 you can take the last period of your maternity leave in parts. This concerns the leave that remains after 6 weeks after the date of the birth. You can take this part of the leave over a maximum period of 30 weeks. You do this in consultation with your client.
You are entitled to 10 weeks of maternity leave and at least 10 weeks of maternity leave if you are pregnant with twins or multiples. The total leave is then 20 weeks.
A maternity benefit is 100% of the daily wage. The UWV calculates the daily wage on the basis of the SV wage that you earned during the employment contract in which the leave starts. They look at a period of 1 year, which ends on the last day of the penultimate month or 4 weeks prior to the day on which the maternity leave starts. They call this period the reference period.
Since 1 January 2019, partners are given the number of working hours per week of birth leave. For example, does your partner work 6 hours a day for 5 days? Then he or she gets 30 hours of leave: 5 x 6 working hours. The employer pays for this leave. Your partner takes these leave days at his own discretion (of course in consultation with his or her employer). But this must be done within 4 weeks after the birth of the child.