Maternity leave for the birth of twins lasts longer than usual. At the 30th week of pregnancy, a woman is given a certificate of incapacity for work, which allows her to stop working and prepare for childbirth. The newsletter is issued for 140 days, the first half falls before the birth, the second - after. How many days does a woman expecting twins have, and from what week can she go on maternity leave?
If the expectant mother is expecting two babies, she can go on vacation earlier, at 28 weeks. Her leave extends to 194 days, 84 of which can be taken before childbirth, and the remaining 110 after the birth of the babies.
Sometimes, based on the results of an ultrasound, the doctor mistakenly assumes only one child; the pregnant woman is given a sick leave of normal duration from the 30th week. After the situation is cleared up, the woman will be able to gain unused days after the babies are born. The vacation, despite the fact that she left two weeks later, should still last 194 days. An additional bulletin is issued for missing days.
The law determines that labor and employment leave is issued in total; the number of days that the employee actually managed to use before the birth of the baby does not matter.
What is maternity leave and who is entitled to it?
Parents of newborn children are one of the socially vulnerable categories of families.
After all, during childbirth and the postpartum period, a woman cannot go to work, because she must care for the child. Therefore, various types of benefits are provided for it. These include maternity payments and care benefits for up to 1.5 years. Maternity payments are a special form of assistance. Unlike other benefits, they are awarded exclusively to the mother (for example, care for a child under 1.5 years old can be provided by the father or even another relative with the payment of benefits).
True, not all women are assigned maternity leave. The list of recipients is indicated in Art. 6 of Federal Law No. 81-FZ of May 19, 1995. The list includes the following categories of mothers:
- officially employed;
- those in the civil service or serving under a contract;
- full-time students;
- dismissed due to liquidation of the organization no more than 1 year ago.
Men and simply unemployed women are not entitled to this payment. Payments are made through the employer, the Social Insurance Fund or social security (depending on the status of the woman in labor).
Link to document: “On state benefits for citizens with children”
General provisions
Maternity leave is time that a woman can use to prepare for childbirth.
The standard duration of such a vacation is 140 days. And maternity leave for twins is extended to one hundred and ninety-four days. The procedure for granting leave is established by Art. 255 Labor Code.
Working mothers receive payments at their place of work. Unemployed women are registered in social protection. During pregnancy, you need to obtain a certificate of early registration. This certificate makes it possible to receive 613.14 rubles. The procedure for obtaining benefits is approved by Law No. 81-FZ.
Important! You must submit a certificate to the company's accounting department about how the pregnancy is progressing. It is this certificate that will be the basis for calculating the amount of benefits.
Many regions encourage fertility and establish additional payments. For example, governor's benefits, regional family capital. You can find out the entire list of benefits from social protection specialists.
Download for viewing and printing:
Federal Law of May 19, 1995 N 81-FZ (as amended on March 28, 2017) “On state benefits for citizens with children”
Labor Code of the Russian Federation dated December 30, 2001 No. 197-FZ
Advantages of maternity leave for twins
Not every modern woman is ready to bear and give birth to one child. Mothers with multiple pregnancies are even less common. They, in comparison with those who are expecting their first child, have the following preferences for maternity leave:
- increase in duration;
- increase in maternity benefits.
Some suggest that for 2 children the required maternity payment is paid in double amount. This statement is incorrect , because the amount is determined based on the average salary and duration of vacation. It turns out that the amount of maternity leave increases precisely because of the longer vacation period.
However, some benefits are still paid for each child. For example, this applies to child care benefits up to 1.5 years old.
In the event of the birth of 2 children at once, the mother automatically gets the opportunity to register maternity capital (in 2021 - 639,432 rubles).
Benefits for families with many children
When there is already a child in the family, at the birth of twins the parents become large families.
And this gives access to numerous social support measures:
- land plots for construction are provided free of charge;
- interest-free loans are issued for the purchase of housing;
- travel on city public transport is paid;
- payments are made for the purchase of school uniforms and writing materials;
- utility bills are partially reimbursed;
- full or partial exemption from paying tax on a vehicle.
Important! To receive some benefits, a family must prove that its income does not exceed the subsistence level.
Duration of maternity leave for twins
The duration of maternity leave (Maternity leave) is defined in Art. 255 Labor Code of the Russian Federation. How many days a woman will rest depends on the number of children expected and the presence of complications during childbirth.
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During a normal pregnancy, a woman rests for 140 days. If complications occur during childbirth, another 16 days are added (i.e., a total of 156 days). What about mothers who are expecting two children at once? For them, regardless of the presence/absence of complications, maternity leave is established for a period of 194 days.
Maternal capital
A woman who gives birth to twins is considered a mother of two children, so she has the right to receive maternity capital. The program to support families with two or more children began operating in 2007. It has been extended several times, giving families the opportunity to receive such assistance.
In 2007, when the program just started working, a precedent occurred. A woman who gave birth to twins was denied registration for maternity leave, citing the fact that she had only one childbirth. After this, amendments were made to the bill, and women began to be given maternity capital even after the birth of two children at the same time.
Matkapital has a specific purpose; it cannot be used for any purpose or simply cashed out. One of the priority goals is to increase living space for the family.
The registration and issuance of maternity capital is handled by the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation. His powers include checking documents and registering the use of these funds.
When do you go on maternity leave with twins?
In Art. 255 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation establishes not only the total duration of maternity leave, but also how long before giving birth a woman can arrange for it. From here it is easy to calculate from what week you can stop working (similar recommendations are also given in the antenatal clinic). If twins are expected, then the expectant mother can write a statement and stop working as early as the 28th week of pregnancy (with one child - from the 30th week). Then she can rest:
- 84 days before birth;
- 110 days after the birth of babies.
Unfortunately, the birth of twins is more difficult than the birth of the first child. Sometimes only one of two children survives. How to be in this case?
The duration of leave due to the birth of a stillchild cannot be reduced if it was taken out before the birth of the baby.
There are also situations when neither the woman nor the ultrasound determines the pregnancy as multiple. As a result, the expectant mother takes out maternity leave at the 30th week for a period of 140 days. During childbirth, 2 babies are born at once. What should a woman in labor do in this case? By law, she is entitled to 194 days of leave. Since before the moment of birth she rested only 70 days, she can use the remaining 124 days after. True, you will have to write a new application addressed to the director (or social security). Then you must make an additional payment for additional vacation days.
Example . Emelyanova was expecting 1 child. She went on maternity leave at 30 weeks and received benefits for 140 days. As a result, she gave birth to 2 children prematurely (68 days after going on maternity leave). How long can she remain on maternity leave? Since two children were born, they are entitled to 194 days of maternity leave. 68 of them have already been taken off, which means there are still 126 days left. Additionally, Emelyanova must be paid for 54 additional days of maternity leave.
Start date and duration
In the case of a multiple pregnancy (two or more children), rest from work begins at 28 weeks. Moreover, the period that remains from this moment until childbirth is approximately equal to the duration stated in the Labor Code of the Russian Federation - 84 days.
The second part, by law, must last 110 days. But if less than 84 days pass from the beginning of the first part of maternity leave to the date of birth, then the second part automatically becomes longer, and vice versa, if childbirth occurs, for example, after 90 days, then the second part will decrease by 6 days and will be equal to 104 days.
Thus, we can conclude that, despite the fact that in the legislation leave due to pregnancy and childbirth is divided into two parts, in practice it is calculated as one period.
One sick leave is also issued for two periods at once.
If a woman is pregnant with twins, maternity leave will be 194 days for normal childbirth, and 210 days for complicated childbirth.
According to general principles, a woman pregnant with twins goes on maternity leave at 28 weeks.
Thus, the pregnant woman herself can approximately calculate the date of departure. But only a gynecologist can determine the exact date and month.
Usually the period before childbirth is approximately 70 days, but this does not mean that if they occur earlier, the duration of the vacation will be reduced.
For officially working women
The following documents will be needed for registration:
- A certificate of incapacity for work, which a woman receives at the consultation where she is registered. It is issued immediately for the entire period, with the exception of an additional 16 days. That is, in the case when a woman is pregnant with twins, sick leave will be issued for 194 days.
- Application for maternity leave. It can be written in free form. The starting date is the number indicated as the beginning of the sick leave. The end date can also be taken from the sick leave, or you can write the duration of the vacation in days.
An approximate text in the application will read as follows: “I ask that you grant me maternity leave from 06/01/2017, lasting 194 days.”
These are the main documents that are provided at the time of registration. In addition to them, there may be additional ones:
- Sick leave for 16 days, issued if complications arise during childbirth, such as a caesarean section. It is issued, as a rule, after newborns are born. And that means it is provided later than the main sick leave.
- Certificate of registration at a medical institution in the early stages of pregnancy. This certificate can be issued before the sick leave begins.
- Certificate of salary for the previous two years in the case where the woman does not have the required length of service in her current job.
In the case of maternity leave, payment can be received at all places of work. This means that if, in addition to her main job, a pregnant woman also works part-time, she must receive as many sick leaves as she has jobs. But there is one nuance here - you can receive payment only if your work experience is more than two years.
Maternity leave can only be granted to those women who are officially employed at the time the sick leave is issued.
The unemployed are not entitled to sick leave due to pregnancy and childbirth. But there are exceptions to this rule, and the following categories of women will be able to apply for maternity leave and its payment:
- if within a year from the date of termination of the employment contract at the last place of work, the woman applied to the Employment Center and received unemployed status;
- if she was dismissed from her previous job as a result of staff reduction or in connection with the liquidation of the enterprise;
- full-time students;
- military personnel.
In all these cases, registration will proceed in the same way as in the previous case.
Based on the above, the following conclusions can be drawn:
- Maternity leave for multiple pregnancies, that is, when a woman is expecting the birth of two or more children, will be 194 days;
- It starts 84 days before your expected due date.
For information on the rules for applying for maternity leave, see the following video:
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Payment amount
While expecting twins, a woman may decide that maternity benefits should be paid to her in double the amount, because she is giving birth to 2 children at once, which means that the cost of maintaining them increases. But this judgment is incorrect, because the size of the payment is formed based on two indicators:
- duration of maternity leave;
- salary for the last 2 years (the average value is taken).
If a woman was not employed at the time of pregnancy, then the calculation is made not on the basis of salary, but on other accruals (scholarships, allowances, in the event of liquidation of the enterprise, a fixed daily payment is established).
You also need to take into account the minimum and maximum payout values. In 2021, in terms of 1 day, they are:
- no more than RUB 2,430.92;
- not less than 419.98 rub.
It turns out that for multiple pregnancies in 2021, the payment will be in the range of 81,476.12 - 471,598.48 rubles. for the entire period of maternity leave.
Example . Michurina worked at the age of 4. Here she went on maternity leave, expecting twins. Her average salary for the last 2 years is 1,117 rubles. in a day. What will be the amount of maternity pay? Since Michurina is expecting 2 children at once, her leave is issued for 194 days. It turns out that the payment will be 216,698 rubles. for the entire period of maternity leave.
When should they pay?
A woman, upon learning of her pregnancy, must notify her employer. For example, it may be necessary to transfer her to easier working conditions or reduce working hours. Immediately at the 28th week (or earlier, if there is evidence for it, but then sick leave is taken first), the woman should be allowed to go on maternity leave. The expectant mother should act like this:
- write an application for maternity leave;
- submit it along with the papers to the employer (sick leave);
- wait for the order to be issued and the money to be transferred (10 days are given to review the documents, the money is transferred on the next payday).
If the employee has not worked for this organization for the entire 2 years, she will need certificates from previous places of work. By the way, payments can be made directly to the Social Insurance Fund, but the list of papers will be longer (you need a passport, a special certificate). Therefore, female workers prefer to contact their employer. The payments will be the same, but the paperwork will be much less. Moreover, you will still need to notify your employer about going on maternity leave.
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