Maternity & paternity leave
Someone is going on maternity or paternity leave. Here’s what you need to do.
A checklist for employers: what the law requires of you, how payroll and Social Insurance work, how to cover the role, and how to plan the return.
The law
What the law requires of you
Leave length
Maternity leave: 22 weeks for a first or second child, 26 weeks from the third, plus 4 weeks for each extra baby in a multiple birth. 11 weeks are compulsory, starting two weeks before the expected week of birth. Paternity leave: 2 consecutive weeks, taken between the week of the birth and two weeks after the mother’s maternity leave ends.
Notice
Maternity: she gives you a certificate from a registered doctor stating the expected week of birth. Paternity: he gives you written notice two weeks before the leave starts, or straight away if the birth is early or unexpected. Paternity leave needs no minimum length of service.
The allowance
Paid by Social Insurance, not by you: 72% of the employee’s insurable earnings in the relevant contribution year (the basic part rises to 80–100% with dependants), for the whole leave. Eligibility depends on the employee’s contribution record. Fathers claim a paternity allowance the same way.
Protection from dismissal
From her written notice of the pregnancy until five months after maternity leave ends, you cannot dismiss her, give notice, or take steps to replace her permanently. The only exceptions: serious misconduct, the whole business closing, or a fixed-term contract ending for reasons unrelated to the pregnancy. A father is protected from his written notice until his paternity leave ends.
Coming back to the same role
She returns to the same or a similar job on the same pay, keeps her seniority, and keeps her pay and benefits, such as the full 13th salary. A father returns to an equivalent role on the same pay.
Based on the Protection of Maternity Law (as amended in 2024), the Work-Life Balance Law 216(I)/2022 and the Department of Labour’s 2024 guide. General information, not legal advice.
Payroll
How the leave runs through payroll
The allowance is paid by Social Insurance directly to the employee, not through your payroll. If you keep paying full salary, no allowance is paid for that period; if you pay part of it, the allowance is reduced so the two together do not exceed full pay. Agree in writing what you will pay during the leave, and record it correctly in payroll and in your Social Insurance submissions.
Payroll →Cover
Covering the role
If it’s your HR person
Interim cover from a OneJar HR leader while they are away.
HR manager options →The return
Coming back
A return-to-work plan: the date, the handover back, and a first conversation about what has changed. By law, for nine months after the birth she can take one hour a day — starting later, leaving earlier or taking a break — and the choice is hers. Her protection from dismissal runs until five months after the end of maternity leave.
What we handle
We handle it end to end.
The paperwork, payroll, cover and the return.
