The director of Social Security Services, Theofanis Tryfonos, speaks in a letter to the Parliament about misinterpretation of the provisions of the current legislation that governs the payment of maternity allowance by pregnant women. Misinterpretations, which result in pregnant women asking their gynecologists to give birth on Monday so as not to lose part of the maternity allowance.
Under current law, the mother is entitled to maternity allowance for 18 weeks. It is estimated that the confusion is caused by the provision of the law, which stipulates that for the purposes of paying maternity allowance, a week is considered, the week which begins on Monday and ends on Sunday. The issue was brought before the Ministry of Labor and the Parliament by the Pancyprian Gynecology and Obstetrics Society, which complained of ambiguities in the legislation.
In particular, in their letter-complaint to Mr. Tryfonos, dated 29/3/2017, which was notified to the Labor Committee of the Parliament, the president and the secretary of the Pancyprian Gynecology and Obstetrics Society, Marios Liasidis and Rihanna Galinou, state the following:
"It had occurred to us, for many years, that the gynecologist had to certify that mothers in Cyprus should give birth on Monday in order not to lose some benefits provided to them by the Law governing maternity allowance. Because this was against our logic and really when we first saw it it only made us laugh, we turned first of all to the Director General of the Ministry of Labor, but we did not see any change in the treatment of mothers. Relevant articles in the press followed but again without result. After a discussion with officials, to whom this term seemed strange and they also laughed, they told us to turn to you, as the most competent, in the hope that you will be able to make this correction, which will restore law and order. logic".
Sufficiently informative is the reply letter of the director of Social Insurance Services Theofanis Tryfonos, which was communicated yesterday by the Services of the Parliament, to the deputies of the Labor Committee. In fact, the letter cites examples through which it is confirmed that this is a misinterpretation of the provisions of the law by pregnant women who request the payment of maternity allowance.
In particular, Mr. Tryfonos in his letter indicates the following:
* According to Article 29 of the Social Security legislation, maternity allowance is paid for a period of 18 weeks. Both maternity leave and allowance begin at least two weeks before the week of expected delivery for the purpose of ensuring the health of the pregnant woman.
* The "week" for the purposes of payment and calculation of maternity allowance begins on Monday and ends on Sunday.
* The allowance is not paid for periods when the applicant worked for full pay by her employer during the 18 weeks of the allowance.
* The only cases where applicants can lose part of the maternity allowance are when the application is not submitted before the birth and when they have full benefits from the employer for part of the 18-week period.
* In no case does the Social Security legislation provide that maternity allowance applicants must give birth on Monday. It is very likely that this is a misinterpretation of the provisions of the legislation by the applicants.
The information of the deputies with examples
For the purpose of fully understanding the provisions of the legislation regarding the provision of maternity allowance, the director of Social Security Services, Theofanis Tryfonos, cites the following examples:
* Insured meets the conditions of contribution for payment of maternity allowance. The application was submitted on 14/2/2017. Expected delivery on 27/4/2017, day Thursday. The applicant terminated her employment on 9/4/2017. The beginning of the payment period of the maternity allowance starts on Monday 10/4/2017. Based on the above data, the maternity allowance starts on 10/4/2017 and lasts until 13/8/2017.
* If any of the above data is differentiated, then the payment period of the allowance may be affected. For example, if the actual birth occurs before 10/4/2017, which is the beginning of the payment of the allowance, and specifically on 6/4/2017 on Saturday, then the maternity allowance starts on 3/4/2017, Wednesday , for 18 weeks.
* If the applicant worked for full pay for any period falling within the benefit period, then no benefit is paid for that period. If, that is, he works for the period 3/4/2017 - 5/4/2017, the days he received full earnings from the employer will be deducted from the weekly amount of the allowance.
Source: Philenews