Businesses urged: Adjust to new maternity leave law

Mayor Sara Duterte has urged business owners and other employers to adjust to the recently signed expanded maternity leave law.
“Hopefully business owners and employers will be able to adjust to the new law that will expand the maternity leave of mothers,” Duterte told reporters.
A mother of three, the mayor said she supports the new law. “I believe that international standards were the basis in crafting the law and it was also based on a maternal and child bonding especially for the newborn and six-month old infant,” she said.
“In fact other countries have up to a year of maternity leave,” she said.
Based on the law, all employed mothers in the government and private sector are entitled with 105 days of paid maternity leave credits with seven days transferable to fathers.
An additional 15 days of paid leave will be granted to single mothers.
The previous law provides that all employed women are granted with 60 days of paid leave for normal delivery and 78 days for caesarean delivery.
The Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) for the new law have yet to be crafted.