Maternity Benefit

Good afternoon. I had a miscarriage and filed my ML last week of March. The application been approved by SSS last 28Apr11 however they won't process the reimbursement unless our company pays me in advance. But the company does not want to pay me in advance. It is stated on SSS policy that:

the benefit is advanced by the employer to the qualified employee, in full, within 30 days from the date of filing of the maternity leave application. The SSS, in turn, shall immediately reimburse the employer 100 percent of the amount of maternity benefit advanced to the female employee upon receipt of satisfactory proof of such payment and legality thereof.

My questions are:

1. What are the repercussions if employers do not follow such policy?

2. Is there a way for me to demand for that advance payment if my employer will stand on their decision not to pay me in advance? It's been more than a month now since I filed for my ML.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
imember

You can definitely demand that your employer advance you the payment as it is expressly provided by the SSS Law.

Refusal to do so constitutes violation and will subject the violators to appropriate sanctions. The penal clause provides:

(e) Whoever fails or refuses to comply with the provisions of this Act or with the rules and regulations promulgated by the Commission, shall be punished by a fine of not less than Five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) nor more than Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00), or imprisonment for not less than six (6) years and one (1) day nor more than twelve (12) years, or both, at the discretion of the court: Provided, That where the violation consists in failure or refusal to register employees or himself, in case of the covered self-employed or to deduct contributions from the employees’ compensation and remit the same to the SSS, the penalty shall be a fine of not less Five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) nor more than Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00) and imprisonment for not less than six (6) years and one (1) day nor more than twelve (12) years.

Likewise, this constitutes criminal violation and the SSS or the employee concerned can file the case as provided under Section 28 of SSS Law.

Atty Lawddesign

Good evening,

Thank you very much for the quick reply. Now I know that I have a right to demand for the advance payment. I also have an update regarding my maternity benefit:

Our HR personnel called me up this afternoon and said that our company will issue check which will be used as a proof of the advance payment. They will not release the check to me and I will have to wait for another one full month for the SSS reimbursement check to come which will be under the name of the company. In other words, they only made the check to make the SSS believe that I was paid in advanced. I feel that they are delaying this because my resignation will take effect on May 31.

Is there another violation on this? Though SSS Taguig Branch does not really require a proof, just a date on the field as to when I was supposedly paid by the company. Should I also seek advice from SSS regarding this matter?

Thank you and more power!

Sincerely,
imember

Hi Imember,

Regardless of your forthcoming resignation, compliance with the SSS provision is mandatory. Considering that the maternity leave occurred during your employment, your resignation does not matter. Take note that the company will not be disadvantaged since, they will be reimbursed by SSS. You are not even asking for monetary consideration from your employer since the payment you are asking them would come from your SSS contribution.

The act of your employer is UNLAWFUL. The law specifically commands actual advance payment and not merely constructive. I suggest that you tell your HR that their scheme is not allowed and if they still refuse, you can tell them that you will be filing a complaint before the SSS.

There is a complaint desk at any SSS branch. I suggest you confer with them

Atty. Lawddesign

Thank you so much, Atty. Lawddesign. Now I can sleep better.

In addition, take note the time period required by law: advance payment should be made by the employer thirty (30) days from the time you filed your application. Thus, your employer is given only a period of 30 days to advance you the payment from the time of filing.

Definitely,the scheme your employer is currently imposing is not only unlawful but pure harassment. I would suggest you inform them of their outright violation of the law. Sometimes employers devise a way to circumvent the law especially if their employees do not react. I believe once you send the message to them that you can bring the matter to the SSS, they will be acting accordingly.

I hope this helps.

Thanks again, Atty Lawddesign. Actually I'm now drafting an e-mail for my HR Manager. Thank you so much for the advice. This will surely help a lot!

your welcome. good luck.keep me posted

Sure I will!

Dear Atty. Lawddesign,

Our company released my advance payment check last 06May11 and yesterday we bought our very own pc which I will use for my 'work from home'. Thank you so much and more power to your team!

Cheers!
imember

Dear Atty:

I'm separated from the company last year and now Voluntary SSS member.

When I tried to file a maternity benefit, I found out there was no remittance from Aug-Nov2011. It's been a year and they keep on telling me payment is deferred. Then due to typhoon, payment was rescheduled yada..yada. My company may not pay this because of the penalty. I still have some of the payslip showing deductions.

How can I file a complaint? where to file a claim? and what docs do I need?
Can I still claim Mat Benefit? knowing that it's my company's fault for not remitting?

i recommend you file a complaint at the SSS

hi atty,

I filed MAT2 for my partner last May 02 2013 after checking all of the documents by ss representative she accepted all the documents, after a month i've checked the status and i was advised they sent it back because for some reason and the same personnel cant confirm the problems with the documents that i've sent. This wont happen if representative was able to check if we're still missing something on the documents that we've sent. How can i file a complaint with the sss personnel?


regards,

i think your concern should be to find out what exactly is the problem with the docus and how to correct it. when they received the docs, there is no waiver of any deficiency.

but if you really wish to file a complaint, then write a letter to the sss

Hi Atty,

What if for example ang monthly salary nang isang pregnant employed woman is 50k per month.
And SSS will only reimburse maximum of 39k for CS and 30k for normal.

Does that mean na for 2 months(60 days) syang naka maternity leave, 30k lang ang ibibigay nang company sa kanya?

In my assumption, the employer shall pay it in full as stated in Art 133 of Labor Code

Art. 133. Maternity leave benefits.
Every employer shall grant to any pregnant woman employee who has rendered an aggregate service of at least six (6) months for the last twelve (12) months, maternity leave of at least two (2) weeks prior to the expected date of delivery and another four (4) weeks after normal delivery or abortion with full pay based on her regular or average weekly wages. The employer may require from any woman employee applying for maternity leave the production of a medical certificate stating that delivery will probably take place within two weeks.

If my understanding is correct, kung 50k/mo ang salary nang isang empleyado, she should recieve 100k for 2 mos. Like how a regular vacation leave is treated.

Thank you in advance!

as per SSS Law:

SSS maternity benefit shall be equivalent to 100% of the pregnant employee’s average daily salary credit for 60 days, or 78 days in case of caesarian delivery.

it will always be based on SSS's monthly salary table which as of this time, the maximum is only Php15,000.00 a month.

see computation here: http://www.sss.gov.ph/sss/printversion.jsp?id=53&file=ben3000.html

Hi Atty.

Good day!

I am pregnant for 4months and I am currently employed, since I am pregnant I need to take a leave because I had spotting and cramping, I already took a leave for 1 1/2 months, but my problem is I need to resign according to my HR Supervisor due to my pregnancy and according to her maybe I cannot handle the stress at the office. So, I have to choose between the two (to work or to resign). I think they are very inconsiderate regarding my situation. Since, I am regular employee do you think its right to resign? Or there is policy that I can take a leave until my due is on?
What are the benefits I can get (regular employees/maternity) if I would resign?

Hoping for your quickest response!

Thank you,
Diane

They can not force you to resign. For as long as you have the medical certificate that you need to rest, even if you don't have leave credits, then you can do so. Do not resign.

Hello po atty,

I gave birth sa 1st child ko last oct 28, 2013 but he passed away that day too, I started my ML july 15, 2013 because of pregnancy problems. My employer gave me my mat.reimbursement in advance last jan.2014 (pero nabasa ko po na within 30 days lang dapat maibigay na sa akin)..I got pregnant po again by january but I had miscarriage last May 6, 2014. Nakapagsubmit naman po ng mat.notification sa sss pero until now di pa rin po nabibigay sa akin ng employer ko ang mat, reimbursement.ano po bang case ito regarding sss benefit?Sabi po sa sss dapat inadvance po ulit ng employer ko ang benefit within the 30 days but its more than 2 months now and I already gave them the needed documents 1-2 months ago na rin po.
Hoping for your advice. God bless.

Hello po atty,

I gave birth sa 1st child ko last oct 28, 2013 but he passed away that day too, I started my ML july 15, 2013 because of pregnancy problems. My employer gave me my mat.reimbursement in advance last jan.2014 (pero nabasa ko po na within 30 days lang dapat maibigay na sa akin)..I got pregnant po again by january but I had miscarriage last May 6, 2014. Nakapagsubmit naman po ng mat.notification sa sss pero until now di pa rin po nabibigay sa akin ng employer ko ang mat, reimbursement.ano po bang case ito regarding sss benefit?Sabi po sa sss dapat inadvance po ulit ng employer ko ang benefit within the 30 days but its more than 2 months now and I already gave them the needed documents 1-2 months ago na rin po.
Hoping for your advice. God bless.

ART. 133. Maternity leave benefits. - (a) Every employer shall grant to any pregnant woman employee who has rendered an aggregate service of at least six (6) months for the last twelve (12) months, maternity leave of at least two (2) weeks prior to the expected date of delivery and another four (4) weeks after normal delivery or abortion with full pay based on her regular or average weekly wages. The employer may require from any woman employee applying for maternity leave the production of a medical certificate stating that delivery will probably take place within two weeks. wrote:

tama po ang pag ka intindi ko dito? kung 2 months kang leave, yung first month may sweldo ka na buo tapos bukod pa ba yung makukuha sa SSS? salamat.

RobChongke wrote:
tama po ang pag ka intindi ko dito? kung 2 months kang leave, yung first month may sweldo ka na buo tapos bukod pa ba yung makukuha sa SSS? salamat.

Hindi.

Article 133, particularly provisions pertaining to benefits and procedure for availment, must give way to Social Security Act.

Ang SSS benefits lang ang masusunod. Ito ay pumalit sa nakasaad sa Art 133 ng LC.

good day po! please help me!

I have a big problem po with my mat 2 reimbursement. my employer advanced 80% of my maternity based on normal delivery which has small discrepancy with the daily mat allowance based on sss website, they only granted 24 400 to me a month before my leave, 508.55 DAILY ALLOWNCE VERSUS 519.44 FROM SSS. I questioned it but they didn't take any action. just told me they will fix it once i gave birth. i gave birth via CEASEREAN SECTION last dec 9 2015. i passed all the necessary documents last dec 24 2015. they did not process it asap. i found online that it was only settled last feb 9 2016. they only settled the amount they advanced to me which was 24 400 so the sss status of my maternity WAS DECLARED SETTLED. i resigned on feb 13, 2016. i asked what does that mean because it was also stated that my maternity daily allowance was only 319+. i questioned it immediately again but they told me that they will process the remaining. i follow up for my status once again by march but they only told me they will do a payment advice. it was already 3 months. and up to date they told me there was a problem with computation but no clear explanation. i thought because of the daily allowance but when i told them that i will file a complaint they have told me that the PROBLEM WAS THEY FILED THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF 24 400 INSTEAD OF 40K. SO IT WAS REALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO GET THE REMAINING. PLEASE HELP ME. WHAT SHOULD I DO TO GET THE REMAINING P 16K?? THANKS AND GOD BLESS!

TRANSFER