Maternity benefit

At some point in life, most of us decide to start a family of our own, which brings many changes not only to our personal lives but also to our working lives. If you are planning for, or already slowly preparing for, the arrival of a new family member, this article will introduce you to the most important financial matters you should definitely know about in this situation, such as the amount of maternity benefit or working while receiving it. And who is actually entitled to maternity benefit?

Maternity benefit is available to:

• An employee
• A self-employed person (SZČO) who has been covered by sickness insurance for at least 270 days in the 2 years before giving birth
• A person with voluntary sickness insurance
• An individual who became entitled to the benefit after their sickness insurance ended, provided they are within the protection period (the protection period is usually 7 days)

Conditions that must be met for maternity benefit to be paid:

If it is the child’s mother:

• on the day she starts receiving maternity benefit, the mother must be covered by sickness insurance or be within the protection period after her sickness insurance ended
• in the two years up to the day of birth, the mother has been covered by sickness insurance for at least 270 calendar days

If it is the child’s father:

• on the day he starts receiving maternity benefit, the child’s father must be covered by sickness insurance or be within the protection period after his sickness insurance ended
• in the two years up to the day he starts receiving maternity benefit, the father has been covered by sickness insurance for at least 270 calendar days
• he has submitted to a branch of the Social Insurance Agency (Sociálna poisťovňa) an agreement on taking the child into his care and a certificate from the Labour Office (ÚPSVaR) confirming that neither parent is receiving parental allowance from the day on which the maternity benefit is claimed

It is worth noting that if a self-employed person is about to start drawing maternity benefit, whether the father or the mother, they must not have arrears of more than €5 with the Social Insurance Agency for the last 5 years.

Amount of maternity benefit in 2021

The amount of maternity benefit is calculated from the daily assessment base. Maternity benefit amounts to 75% of the daily assessment base, or of the probable daily assessment base, per calendar day.

Maternity benefit is capped at a maximum daily benefit, which must not exceed 75% of the maximum daily assessment base per calendar day. As the maximum daily assessment base for 2021 is €71.8028, the maximum daily maternity benefit is €53.8521.

(Source: www.podnikajte.sk)

The maximum maternity benefit in 2021 is paid to a person whose monthly assessment base (gross wage) reaches twice the average monthly wage for 2019, which amounts to €2,184.

How long is maternity benefit paid? Is it better for the father or the mother?

Once the conditions laid down by law are met, the child’s mother receives maternity benefit:

• from the beginning of the sixth week before the expected date of birth set by the doctor, although she may also start earlier, at the earliest from the beginning of the eighth week before the expected date of birth
• until the end of the 34th week after the entitlement to maternity benefit arose (the exceptions are a single mother, who receives maternity benefit for up to 37 weeks, and a mother who has given birth to two or more children, who receives maternity benefit for 43 weeks)

Once the conditions laid down by law are met, the child’s father receives maternity benefit:

• from the day he takes the child into his care, at the earliest six weeks after the date of birth (if the mother is not receiving maternity benefit) or once the mother has used up her maternity benefit (if the mother is receiving maternity benefit),
• until the end of the 28th week after the entitlement to maternity benefit arose (the exceptions are a single father, who receives maternity benefit for up to 31 weeks, and a father caring for two or more children, who receives maternity benefit for 37 weeks),
• but no longer than until the child turns three.

Working while on maternity benefit

Can I work while receiving maternity benefit? The answer is yes, and you even have several options for working while on maternity leave. If the work is for the same employer, it must be under a new employment contract for a different position. A person on maternity benefit may also work under a student temporary work agreement, an agreement to perform work (dohoda o vykonaní práce) or an agreement on work activity (dohoda o pracovnej činnosti). They can even set up a sole-trader business or, if they already have one, continue running it. It follows that you can work without any limits while receiving maternity benefit.

Work of this kind is also advantageous for the employer, which, for such an employee, pays only contributions to the health insurance company and, to the Social Insurance Agency, only accident insurance.