18.01.2023

RIGHTS DURING PREGNANCY AND MATERNITY

In addition to being a reason for joy, pregnancy is sometimes also a cause for concern about the workplace. If you are a pregnant and working woman, the important thing is not to be afraid to let your employer know about your pregnancy. In most cases, he does not have the right to terminate your employment contract, as every pregnant employee enjoys special protection under the Labor Code.

The correct way to notify your employer of your pregnancy is to present a medical document certifying the pregnancy. In this way, you will be able to benefit from all the additional rights and protections under the Labor Code that apply to pregnant women. It is important to know that a verbal notice or written on a freestyle flyer has no legal value and does not guarantee you the additional rights and protections.

In vitro, pregnancy and work

The employer has no right to assign you work that endangers or endangers the safety and health of you and your unborn child. A pregnant woman has the right to refuse to perform such work, without this leading to negative consequences for her, for example, dismissal. These are professions related to:

- the release of toxic chemical substances;

- vibrations, noise, ultrasound, electromagnetic waves or temperatures of the working environment above permissible hygiene standards;

- lifting and carrying weights over 5 kg;

- closed sources of ionizing radiation (throughout the period of pregnancy);

- causative agents of infections, parasitic and fungal diseases (e.g. in a morgue).

The employer is obliged to release you from work when you have to go for medical examinations. For the time you are under examination, he must pay you remuneration in the amount of the average daily gross labor remuneration for the last calendar month.

When you are pregnant or in an advanced stage of in vitro treatment, night work (from 22:00 to 06:00) is prohibited. Working at night is also not allowed if you already have children up to the age of 6 or take care of disabled children regardless of their age. The same applies to overtime work – outside the working hours established in your employment contract, on weekends or during public holidays.

If you are pregnant, have a child/children under the age of 3 or are in an advanced stage of in vitro treatment, your employer is not allowed to send you on a business trip without your written consent.

For larger groups of more than 20 women, the employer must furnish rooms for personal hygiene and rest rooms for pregnant women.

If the work performed is not suitable for your condition, according to the prescription of the health authorities (personal physician, medical advisory committee, TEMC, NEMC), the employer is obliged to temporarily employ you. For example, reducing working hours, providing a workplace with fresh air and light, not lifting heavy objects, etc.

In the event that the adjustment of working conditions is technically and/or objectively unfeasible or is not justified to be required due to the very nature of your work, the employer will have to transfer you to another suitable job.

Until the transfer order is fulfilled, the pregnant woman is released from the obligation to perform the unsuitable work, and the employer will have to pay her compensation. You will also receive such compensation when your remuneration is lower than what you received before employment.

Without prior permission from the Labor Inspectorate, the employer has no right to fire you if you are pregnant or the mother of a child under 3 years old. If you take maternity leave, you can only be fired if the company is closed.

With notice, you can be fired with the prior permission of the Labor Inspectorate only if:

- closing the company;

- refusal to follow the company or division in which you work when it moves to another place;

- when the position held by you must be vacated in order to reinstate an illegally dismissed worker or employee who previously held the same position;

- objective impossibility of fulfilling the employment contract - for example, when they can neither move you to another suitable job, nor soften the conditions of the one you already have.

You can be fired without notice when:

- be detained for the execution of a sentence;

- be disciplinary dismissed, with the prior permission of the Labor Inspectorate.

You have the following rights when breastfeeding:

- until your baby is 8 months old, you are entitled to 1 hour twice a day or 2 consecutive hours of paid leave for a full working day of 8 hours;

- when breastfeeding twins or a premature child, 3 hours of paid leave per day are taken until the child reaches the age of 8 months, and then 2 hours per day until this is necessary at the discretion of the health authorities.

Medical rights

Pregnant women have the right to a consultative examination with an obstetrician-gynecologist, which includes free obstetric ultrasound, Pap smear, microbiological examination, a second ultrasound examination by an obstetrician-gynecologist during the 16-20th week of pregnancy. In addition, at the first visit to the doctor, they are also entitled to the following free medical-diagnostic services: determination of blood group and Rh-factor; test for syphilis, hepatitis B, HIV, hemoglobin, erythrocytes, leukocytes, hematocrit, MCV, MCH, ESR, urine (sediment).

Some of these tests may be repeated in the following months at the doctor's discretion. In laboratories, only a fee is paid for the collection of biological material, regardless of the number of tests.

In addition, the pregnant woman has the right to one additional free preventive examination at the dentist and home visits for treatment and manipulations if there is a problem with the pregnancy.

Maternity leave and compensation

Paid maternity leave lasts 410 days. Curiously, this is one of the longest paid holidays in the world. For comparison, in other EU countries it varies between 6 months and a year, and in the USA it is 3 months). Fathers in our country are entitled to 15 days of paid leave upon birth or adoption.

Towards the end of the pregnancy, it is time to apply for leave. Before the due date of birth, 45 days of leave must be used. However, when the child is born before the expiry of these 45 days from the start of the leave, then the remaining days are used after the birth.

Maternity leave is paid and is recognized as work experience. In the first year, 90% of the average gross remuneration, on which insurance contributions have been paid or payable, is received for the period of 24 calendar months before the pregnancy leave, but only if there is 12 months of accumulated total insurance experience for this risk. These funds are not paid by the employer, but by the National Social Security Institute. For this purpose, all mandatory insurance contributions must be paid.

The minimum compensation is in the amount of the current minimum monthly salary. In case of early return to work (after 135 days from the birth), the mother has the right to continue receiving 50% of the benefit.

Mothers are entitled to additional leave for raising their first, second and third child until they reach the age of 2 and 6 months for each subsequent child after using leave due to pregnancy, childbirth or adoption. Adoptive parents are entitled to 365 days of leave when adopting a child up to the age of 5, starting from the date of adoption.

With the consent of the mother, this leave can also be used by the father, when the mother decides that she does not have the opportunity or does not want to be absent from the workplace. In such cases, he has the right to transfer the leave to the father of the child or to one of their parents, who has an employment contract at his workplace.