Is it possible to work while on maternity leave?
Is it possible to work on maternity leave?
Any woman working under an employment contract in an organization must inform the employer that she will soon have maternity leave.
There is no such obligation in the law , but this is necessary, first of all, so that the employer has time to find a replacement for you during maternity leave and can resolve the most important issues with you before you leave the workplace, and also does not harbor resentment against you for late information.
But sometimes the situation develops in such a way that a woman who will soon be on vacation does not even want to leave her home office . The situations preceding this can be different: someone simply needs a team and communication, someone wants to finish an important project, someone dreams of ensuring career growth even in the last two months before giving birth, and someone wants to get more money due to the fact that he has a poor financial situation and is the only breadwinner in the family.
Only a pregnant woman has the right to choose when she should go on maternity leave. In accordance with the Constitution of our country, namely Article 37, everyone has the right to work and a pregnant woman is no exception.
Under what conditions?
If a pregnant woman wants to continue her work activity while on maternity leave, she has every right to do so. And the employer will undoubtedly be happy about this fact. Agree, it’s easier to work for a while with an old and experienced employee who will do everything quickly and accurately than to train a new one. It's better to delay this moment for a while.
A pregnant woman receives at her antenatal clinic a sick leave certificate or, as we call it, a certificate of incapacity for work, which must be submitted to the employer along with an application for leave.
Working on maternity leave is possible, first of all, if the pregnant woman is in good health , there is no candidate for her position, and also if the employer is unaware of the start of her maternity leave.
Work during maternity leave can continue until the woman feels that it is time to sit at home and prepare for the upcoming birth.
A sick leave certificate, not submitted to the employer along with the application, gives her the opportunity to perform her labor function until the right moment .
When it becomes necessary, the woman will fill out an application document, attach a sick leave certificate to it and provide it directly to the manager.
The day the application is accepted will be the official start of maternity leave, which, in accordance with Article 255 of the Labor Code, lasts exactly 140 days .
Is part-time employment allowed?
This employment option is not prohibited by law. Moreover, external and internal combinations are allowed. The work is carried out under an employment contract, but subject to several nuances:
- B&R payments are accrued from each employer if at the time of employment the woman was employed in two or more places;
- The average salary is taken at the main place of employment.
The best option for part-time employment is the procedure when no entries are made in the work book. In practice, everything happens much simpler and many women work remotely, unofficially.
Is it possible to leave later?
Is it possible to go on maternity leave later? Many are afraid that the postponement of maternity leave and sick leave will provoke the fact that the maternity leaver will be left without payments at all. This is wrong. Let's take a closer look at the situation.
Let’s assume that a woman already has a sick leave certificate in her hands, which allows her to write an application for maternity leave from today and leave work. However, if a pregnant employee does not go on maternity leave and does not want to do this, she simply does not submit an application and sick leave to the employer, but works as before.
However, it is worth informing the employer that you will work in the position for some time before you leave .
The moment you decide that it’s time to start your vacation, you submit an application to the employer, as well as a sick leave certificate. Since the deadline for taking leave is overdue, the employer issues your maternity leave later than the date indicated on the sick leave, that is, on the day you submit the application, and from this day your salary ceases to be accrued, and maternity benefits are accrued.
But the maternity leave in Article 255 70 days before childbirth and 70 days after, begins to flow not at the moment when you decide to go on maternity leave, but at the moment when your pregnancy is 30 weeks and you have been given a sick leave certificate.
This little confusion can be frightening to your employer, so if you want to continue to carry out your job function, you must inform him of your plans and work out a course of action together.
When, in this case, is it necessary to obtain sick leave for pregnancy and childbirth at the antenatal clinic?
Many people believe that since there is no desire to leave work, then at 30 weeks there is no need to receive sick leave.
This is wrong. A sick leave certificate is issued at 30 weeks for a normal pregnancy and at 28 for a multiple or complex pregnancy . You receive it immediately upon the arrival of the relevant deadline, but whether to submit the document to the employer or not is at your discretion.
The procedure for working during sick leave related to preparation for childbirth and the birth of the baby
Sick leave is issued at the antenatal clinic at the 30th week of pregnancy. The document exempts the employee from work for 140 days during a “classic” birth (one child, without complications). The designated period of time is paid by the state. Funds for payments are provided by the budget of the Social Insurance Fund of the Russian Federation. At the same time, a woman has the right to refuse leave and not take out maternity leave.
Immediately after the baby is born, the worker can begin working. In this case, she does not use part of the sick leave provided for the postpartum period. It is worth understanding that such a decision is made with the consent of the employer.
Sick leave is paid based on the days used due to incapacity for work. Thus, it is impossible to receive employment-related income and sick leave at the same time.
Until how long can a woman work?
How long does it take to go on maternity leave?
In accordance with the order of the Ministry of Health and Social Development dated July 29, 2011 No. 624 , its eighth section states that a woman must go on maternity leave upon reaching 30 weeks of pregnancy, and in the case of multiple pregnancy - at 28 weeks.
But this legal act does not say anything about how long a woman can continue to work during maternity leave. What happens next may depend only on her decision, as well as on the employer, who may require the provision of a certificate of incapacity for work in order to relieve herself of responsibility for witnessing a premature birth in the workplace.
Application for leaving maternity leave
So, the mother decided to go to work, leaving her child in the care of close relatives or a nanny. But in order to come to work and immediately begin her duties, she will have to notify the manager of her imminent return.
At the legislative level, a sample application for early exit from maternity leave has not been accepted. If necessary, a woman can communicate her intentions orally, but a written version is preferable.
What rules should be followed when writing an application:
- The title of the document can be marked with one word - “statement”.
- The content should be brief and informative. The woman is not required to indicate the reasons for early exit. The purpose of the application is to inform the authorities about the impending termination of the maternity leave, indicating the deadlines and asking for the preservation of the previous conditions.
- The document indicates the date of preparation, the full name of the employee and her position. The document is endorsed by signature.
The application must be submitted two weeks before the actual departure from vacation.
Most likely, the employer has already managed to identify a temporary applicant for the maternity vacancy, so he will need time to terminate the employment relationship with the replacement employee.
Calculation of benefits and wages
There are several options for paying maternity benefits together with wages, the mechanisms of which need to be carefully studied.
What will be paid to a woman who did not go on sick leave for childbirth, but continues to work?
If a woman has already provided sick leave for pregnancy and childbirth, but decided not to go on maternity leave, but went to work as usual, then the situation here is very twofold.
On the one hand, the employer does not have the right to officially pay her wages (during maternity leave), because in accordance with all the documents, she is on vacation and receives benefits . On the other hand, a woman is still in the organization and performs a labor function.
The answer to this question was given by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Volga-Vyatka District on October 28, 2008 in case A031 . In a situation where maternity leave is officially issued, the employee can only claim maternity benefits, and she cannot receive wages .
However, the employee and the employer can enter into an oral or written agreement between themselves , in which the manager would promise to make an additional payment in the established amount for the days the pregnant woman worked within the organization. If the employer refuses such an offer and says that it is not in his interests, the woman has no choice but to go on vacation.
How are salaries paid in this case?
If a pregnant woman has not filed a certificate of incapacity for work at 30 weeks , but continues to work until a later date, her salary is accrued until she submits an application for leave .
If the employer issues such an application retroactively and equates it to the date of drawing up the certificate of incapacity for work, this is a violation of the employee’s rights and may lead to legal proceedings.
Only after the fact of acceptance of the application does the salary stop accruing, and the accrual of maternity benefits begins.
Resumption of work
When a child is born, the employee has the right to use the appropriate type of leave. In addition to the woman, another relative can take advantage of the leave. This rest period can be interrupted at a convenient time for the applicant. It depends on the desire of the employee. Maternity leave is often referred to as the time when a female representative does not work due to pregnancy. You don’t have to write an application for leave related to childcare. Then the mother returns to the organization after completing her sick leave. No additional paperwork is required.
The law gives the management of the organization the right to recall a woman from vacation. This can be organized with the consent of the employee. Otherwise it becomes a violation of rights. If there is an agreement with the company management, you can start working on certain conditions. In addition, mom can work from home. In these situations, the employee, according to personnel regulations, takes care of the children. She is not deprived of the opportunity to receive benefits.
At the same time, the employee receives earnings for the period actually worked and the specified type of payments. When an employee decides to work all day, her entitlement to benefits disappears. A situation arises when a person first returns to work, after which circumstances arise that make it difficult to fulfill work duties. A woman may simply change her mind about working. The mother can fill out an application again and ask for the resumption of maternity leave. Leave is used only until the children turn three years old.
How to calculate benefits if a woman goes on maternity leave later?
Many people are probably confused by the situation with filing a maternity leave application with a delay. We will tell you how payments will be calculated in such a development of events, using a small calculation formula.
Let's give an example. At 30 weeks, a certificate of incapacity for work was received, but was not submitted to the employer. The employee filled out the application and provided the sheet only at 34 weeks. This means that in the period from 30 to 34 weeks she was paid wages with all bonuses and allowances in full .
After the application has been signed by the employer at 34 weeks, benefits begin to accrue . They amount to the amount of payments for two calendar years, divided by 731. The resulting amount is multiplied by the number of days of maternity leave, but not by 140, but by those that remained, taking into account the fact that the employee received wages for 4 weeks.
In total, for the given example, the formula looks like this:
Salary from 30 to 34 weeks + total income for two years divided by 731 and multiplied by 112 (remaining days of maternity leave).
How not to lose benefits
The benefit is retained by the woman until the child is one and a half years old. This is stated in the law adopted at the federal level under No. 255. You can apply for benefits for other relatives:
- father;
- grandmother, etc.
To do this, these relatives will need to write an application to the organization where they are employed. For example, the basis for transferring payments from mother to father is when a woman goes to work. The employee must work full time. There is another option for maintaining benefits - going to work part-time with another employer. In this case, the working day does not exceed four hours.
The legislator does not prohibit working part-time in several organizations. At the main place of work, it is not required to report that the woman works in another company. The exception is the situation when the employee holds a management position. This rule is reflected in the labor law. In addition to the situations listed above, a woman retains the right to payments if she works one-time when drawing up a civil law contract.
Based on the above, we can conclude that it is possible to work on maternity leave. An employee on vacation can work, provided that the working day is incomplete. The right to receive payments is not lost.
When the vacation was not issued
If a pregnant woman did not take sick leave, but worked until the very moment of childbirth, then she can receive a second sick leave equal to 70 days of maternity leave directly in the maternity hospital .
She can submit a certificate of incapacity for work to the employer along with the application either upon discharge, or by mail or with the help of an authorized representative.
In this case, who issues sick leave, for how long, and how will it be paid?
Sick leave is issued for a period of 70 days for a singleton pregnancy , and 94 days for a multiple pregnancy . The employer will pay for this sheet, but only upon submission of the application to him. The document itself is issued by the chief physician upon discharge from the maternity hospital.
Duration of such sick leave?
Maternity leave lasts 70 days, and upon the end of the maternity leave, a woman can take out maternity leave . Also, a woman can leave maternity leave without working the required two weeks.
Remote work
Some employees may work from home while on vacation. For example, these are employees of the financial department, office or creative professions, and handmade artists. There are several options for earning money:
- drawing up an additional agreement with the employer;
- registration of a civil contract;
- a contract of one-time significance;
- carrying out activities without completing documentation.
The agreement reflects the fulfillment of labor obligations on a part-time basis. You can conclude a civil agreement either with a third-party organization or with the main one. The listed options do not deprive the employee of her rights to receive the required payments.
Employment may be remote. The second name for such activity is freelancing. This activity allows women to work and care for the baby. As a rule, working on the Internet does not imply the conclusion of a contract. Payment is made upon receipt. Resources have been developed to enable women to work while caring for children.
The work may be different:
- working with texts;
- website design, etc.
The choice is made independently.
Learn a new profession
Sometimes, while on maternity leave, a parent realizes that he does not want to return to his previous job. Then you can think about changing your profession and enroll in courses. Online education allows you to learn a new specialty at home. Courses are available in different areas - programming, design, internet marketing, SMM, project management, photography, video shooting, motion design.
Daria Saprygina Mom is on maternity leave, raising 2-year-old Bogdan.
Before the birth of the child, she worked as the manager of a foreign language school, and while on maternity leave she received a new profession. For a long time I could not understand what I liked and where I could apply myself. During my maternity leave, I remembered how my parents gave me my first camera for my birthday when I was six—I took pictures of everything and everyone. I thought: why not? That same day I found a photography school and signed up for a course for beginners. Eight classes cost 35 thousand - at that time it was a serious amount, but I felt that I needed it. I had neither a camera nor knowledge - I only had the feeling that this was it, the time for change. Since then, I graduated, saved money and bought a camera. I shared my work on Instagram - people appreciated it, and orders came. The income was small, 3-5 thousand per shoot. I took a maximum of two or three shoots a month, and only if it was possible to leave the child with someone. I try to retouch during the baby’s nap, but I couldn’t find anything on my laptop when Bogdan was younger. I will say this: working with a baby is difficult, but very possible. The main thing is that the work should be a pleasure and fill you with energy, and not take it away. Then you and your family are happy.
Good online courses are designed in such a way that during the course of training a person practices and builds a portfolio, and after completion he gets the opportunity to undergo an internship. The downside is that such education is paid. If the new profession is not useful, you will be wasting your money. In addition to a career in digital, you can master other skills: sign up for courses in manicure, makeup, sewing, and classical massage. But these are offline classes. Those who are determined can go to college. If this is the first secondary education, a person can enroll on a budget and study for free. In college you can learn the basics of entrepreneurship, hotel service, landscape design or simultaneous translation skills. There is a wide choice - it all depends on your interests.
What's the result?
Moms and dads who worked part-time while on maternity leave are advised not to do this if possible. Due to the heavy workload, the parent does not notice how the child is growing and misses one of the most touching moments of his life. If you do decide to find an additional source of income, answer a few questions before searching: How much time are you willing to devote to part-time work? What do you like to do? Are you ready to learn new things? How much do you want to earn? This will help you decide on your field and find something you like.
