Did you just have a baby? Then it is nice to spend as much time with your family as possible. Maternity leave is available for mothers, but what are you actually entitled to as a partner?
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Birth leave
The maternity leave for salaried partners is once the number of working hours per week. So if you work five days (of eight hours) a week, you will be given five days (40 hours) of leave. You can record this immediately after birth, but you can also spread this over the first four weeks after delivery. In addition, the supplementary maternity leave commenced on 1 July 2020. This allows you to take additional leave between one and five weeks in the first six months after birth.
Has the (additional) birth leave been paid?
Your regular maternity leave has been paid: your employer pays you 100 percent of your wages for the time you take off. During your additional birth leave you will receive a benefit from the UWV of 70 percent of your daily wage: the salary that you earn on average per day and on which you pay taxes and social security contributions. This daily wage has a legal maximum that changes every six months: from 1 January 2021 this is € 223,40. You will therefore never receive more than € 156,38 gross per day during your additional birth leave.
During your supplementary birth leave, your wages are therefore at least 30 percent lower than normal. Do you fall below the social minimum as a result? Then you will not receive an allowance from the UWV. In some collective labor agreements it has been agreed that your employer will supplement your wages up to 100 percent during your additional leave. Check your terms of employment carefully.
Conditions for additional maternity leave
- You are employed.
- You have already taken your regular birth leave.
- You take the leave within six months after the birth of your child.
- You have recognized the child or you are a partner of the mother:
- you are married to the mother
- you are registered partner of the mother
- you live with the mother and share the costs for the house and household
Are you unemployed, voluntarily insured or self-employed? Then you are unfortunately not entitled to additional maternity leave.
How do you apply for supplementary maternity leave?
Indicate to your employer four weeks in advance that you want to take additional birth leave, which will then notify the UWV. For this you must provide the following information:
- the date of birth of your child
- the number of weeks you want leave (1 to 5 weeks)
- the starting date of the leave
- a statement that you have already taken regular birth leave for one week
- who should receive the benefit: you or your employer
Does your employer receive the benefit? Then that happens in one go: he decides how you will receive the benefit. Do you receive the benefit directly from the UWV? Then this is done afterwards and per week.
Questions
Would you like to know more about the supplementary birth leave or this article? Please do not hesitate to contact our Service Center. We are available every working day from 8.00 a.m. to 18.00 p.m. sc@unie.nl or 0345 851 963.
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