On November 11, 2015, the Government issued the Decree No. 115/2015/ND-CP detailing a number of articles of the Law on Social Insurance regarding compulsory social insurance.
In particular, in her pregnancy, a female employee being surrogate mother currently paying compulsory social insurance premiums to the sickness and maternity fund is entitled to take leave for 5 prenatal check-ups, one day each leave. A pregnant employee who lives far from a health establishment or has a pathology or abnormal pregnancy is entitled to take a two-day leave for each prenatal check-up. Maternity allowance levels for female employees being surrogate mothers must comply with Article 39 of the Law on Social Insurance and shall be calculated on the basis of the average of salaries of 6 months preceding the leave on which social insurance premiums are based.
For female employees being surrogate mothers who have paid social insurance premiums for under 6 months, the maternity allowance level is the average of salaries of the months for which social insurance premiums have been paid. If the maternity leave period in a month is 14 working days or more, this month shall be regarded as a period of social insurance premium payment. During this period, female employees being surrogate mothers and employers are not required to pay social insurance premiums.
A maternity leave from the time of receiving the child until the child reaches full 6 months. In case twins or more infants are born, from the second child onward, the indented mother is entitled to an additional leave of 1 month for each child; If the intended mother does not take leave, in addition to her salary, she is entitled to the maternity regime under regulations.
Besides, this Decree also details the suspension from payment of compulsory social insurance premiums. The cases of suspension from payment of premiums to the retirement and survivorship fund includes suspension of production and business activities for 1 month or more due to difficulties caused by restructuring, technology change, economic crisis or recession, or for implementation of state policies on economic restructuring or fulfillment of international commitments and difficulties caused by a natural disaster, fire, epidemic or crop failure. Employers falling in one of the cases may suspend payment of premiums to the retirement and survivorship fund when being unable to arrange jobs for employees, with employees covered by social insurance and having to cease working accounting for 50% or more of the total workforce before suspension of production and business activities; suffering a loss representing over 50% of the total value of assets (excluding land) as a result of a natural disaster, fire, epidemic or crop failure.
This Decree takes effect on January 1, 2016; particularly, particularly, the regulations on persons working under labor contracts with a term of between full 1 month and under 3 months will take effect on January 1, 2018.
