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New, from 1 July: additional maternity leave for partners

From 1 July 2020, partners are entitled to a maximum of five weeks of additional maternity leave. This is in addition to the birth leave of once the number of working hours per week.

What exactly does the scheme look like Birth leave for partners?

From January 1, 2019, partners who are employed will receive once the number of working hours per week on maternity leave. As an employer, you continue to pay your wages in full during this leave. The days birth leave can be taken at the employee’s discretion, provided this is within four weeks of the birth of the child.

As of July 1, 2020, this scheme has been expanded and partners can take additional maternity leave for a maximum of five weeks (five times the number of working hours per week). During this leave, the partner no salary, but a benefit from the UWV.

Who is a partner?

• Birth leave is for the partner of the mother. Usually this is the father of the newborn child. When is your employee a partner? If this employee:
• is married to the mother;
• is the registered partner of the mother;
• unmarried cohabiting with the mother;
• the child acknowledges.

Rules for additional maternity leave

Several rules apply to taking additional birth leave:

• The baby must be born on or after July 1, 2020.
• The partner must first take the normal one-week birth leave within four weeks of the birth. The extra weeks of leave must be taken within six months of the birth.

Benefit from UWV

If the partner takes the additional birth leave, this employee will therefore not receive a salary, but a benefit from the UWV. This benefit amounts to 70% of the daily wage. Note: this applies to a maximum daily wage of € 222.78. This is € 4,845.47 per month.

As an employer, you apply for the benefit at the UWV. The UWV will pay this benefit to you unless you choose in the application to have the amount paid directly to the employee.

Long-term sick partner Is your employee unexpectedly ill for a long time? In that case, he / she can only take additional birth leave if the employee is (partially) back at work within six months after the birth of the child.

Does the employee become ill during the additional birth leave?

Then the leave does not expire. The employee can continue to take the leave after the period of illness, provided you as an employer do so agrees. In this case, taking the leave may be spread out, but within six months after the birth of the child. If the leave weeks are not taken within six months, they will come to expire.

Supplementary birth leave is part of the Extra Birth Leave Act (WIEG).

This law gives partners in particular the right to more days off. The aim behind the scheme is to allow parents to better distribute the care of their baby.