Leave benefits as explained by CSC provincial director Eamiguel

By CHITO DELA TORRE
August 17, 2011

Male parents who are government employees are entitled to go on a paternity leave.  Yes, if female employees can enjoy their maternity leave, males also enjoy their own, and that is called, paternity leave. Adoptive parents – those with adopted children – can also enjoy all the benefits which biological parents are entitled to.  As for the latter case, Section 34 of Republic Act No. 8552 or the Domestic Adoption Act of 1998 provides, in part, thus: “Maternity and paternity and other benefits given to biological parents upon the birth of a child, shall be enjoyed, if the adoptee is below seven (7) years of age as of the date the child is placed with the adopted parent through the Pre-Adoptive Placement Authority issued by the Department “(of Social Welfare and Development).

This is what male teachers and non-teaching personnel at the Basey National High School learned from the recent visit to their school by provincial director Cyril Nathan SM. Eamiguel of the Civil Service Commission Samar provincial office.  (By the way, Dir. Eamiguel may become a lawyer one day.  That’s one of his biggest dreams.)

According to director Eamiguel, a paternity leave is a privilege granted to a married male employee allowing him not to report for work for seven (7) working days while continuing to earn compensation thereof, on the condition that his legitimate spouse has delivered a child or suffered a miscarriage.  This leave type, he explained, may be enjoyed either in continuous or in an intermittent manner by the employee on the days immediately before, during and after childbirth.

Paternity leave is subject to three conditions, as follows: (1) Every married male employee is entitled to paternity leave of seven (7) working days for the first four (4) deliveries of his legitimate spouse with whom he is cohabiting; (2) the first four deliveries shall be reckoned from the effectivity of the Paternity Leave Act (Republic Act No.8187), which is July 15, 1996; and (3) married employees with more than one (1) legal spouse shall be entitled to avail of paternity leave for an absolution maximum of four deliveries regardless of whichever spouse gives birth.

Application for a paternity leave must be filed within a reasonable period prior to the expected delivery of a child, except in cases of miscarriage and abnormal deliveries.  The male parent applicant may be required to furnish a certified true copy of marriage contract, birth certificate of newly born child, or medical certificate with pathology reports in case of miscarriage, signed by attending physician or midwife with date of childbirth/miscarriage. In addition, approval of the application leave is mandatory, unless the services of the male employee are urgently needed to preserve life and property, in which case, he becomes entitled to overtime pay.

In the case of adoptive parents, there are four general guidelines to observe: (1) Applications for maternity and paternity leave of absence by adoptive parents should be submitted to the proper head of agency/department/office, for appropriate action; (2) such applications should be accompanied by an authenticated copy of the Pre-Adoptive Placement Authority issued by the Department of Social Welfare and Development if the leave of absence will be availed before the grant of the petition for adoption; (3) if maternity and paternity leave benefits are availed after the grant of the petition for adoption, the applications should be accompanied by authenticated copies of the Decree of Adoption issued by the proper court; and (4) the grant of leave of absence under this Resolution shall be available to adoptive parents only once during the whole adoption process, provided, the adoptee or adopted child is below 7 years of age as of (a) the date the child is placed with the adoptive parents through the Pre-Adoptive Placement Authority, or (b) the date at which the application for maternity or paternity leave is made.

Apart from these leave types, there are also so-called “special leave privileges”.  These refer to a leave of absence of officials and employees that may be availed of for a maximum of three (3) days annually.  The special leave privileges are “over and above the vacation, sick, maternity and paternity leaves”.  Director Eamiguel said the special leave privilege allows an employee to mark personal milestone and/or attend to filial and domestic responsibilities. Additionally, this privilege is non-cumulative and non-commutative or non-convertible to cash.

The young CSC provincial chief said that an employee can still avail of his birthday leave or wedding anniversary leave if such occasion falls on either a Saturday, Sunday or Holiday, either before or after the occasion.

Employees applying for a special privilege shall no longer be required to present proof that they are entitled to avail of such leaves.

Dir. Eamiguel, however, clarified that each employee is limited to only three days each year for his or her special privileges.

Special privileges can be availed by officials and employees with or without existing or approved collective negotiation agreement (CNA).  These, however, cannot be enjoyed by teachers and those covered by special leave laws.

Apart from being granted to enable an employee to attend personal milestones, including death anniversaries, a special privilege may be granted for a leave to attend to parental obligations, such as attendance in school programs, PTA meetings, graduations, first communion, medical needs, among others, where the child of the government employee is involved.

The other four conditions for availment of this special leave privilege are as follows:

1) filial obligations to cover the employee’s moral obligation toward his parents and siblings for their medical and social needs;

2) domestic emergencies such as sudden urgent repairs needed at home, sudden absence of a yaya or maid, and the like;

3) personal transactions to cover thee entire range of transactions an individual does with government and private offices such as paying taxes, court appearance, arranging a housing loan, etc.;