How is maternity leave paid in Belarus? Maternity allowance

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

The global economic crisis is forcing the governments of many countries to patch holes in the state budget and look for funds to replenish it. Unfortunately, this process first of all painfully affects the wallets of ordinary citizens. This problem did not bypass the Republic of Belarus either. A tax on parasitism has already been introduced here, and tariffs for utilities have been raised. And now the question of whether maternity leave will be reduced in Belarus is on the agenda.

Of course, this news caused a strong reaction both among parents and among economists, because about 100 thousand 2-year-old children will have to be provided with nurseries and educators, who are still sorely lacking. How realistic is this initiative and what will the reduction of maternity leave in Belarus bring to citizens?

Maternity leave in Europe

The Republic of Belarus is one of the few countries that provides young mothers with 3 years of maternity leave. It is of the same duration in Ukraine. But in neighboring Russia, mothers go to work after 1.5 years, more precisely, they can even after 3, but they will receive benefits only for the first year and a half. Thesepayments are calculated based on the salary for 2 years preceding the decree, so if a woman managed to work for only a year, she will receive benefits at the minimum rate.

But in other European countries the conditions for maternity leave are more favorable. Here you can often find a huge payout of 25,000 euros by our standards, as, for example, in Iceland. Another demographic paradise is Sweden, where the vacation is half a year, but the mother will receive 80-100% of her salary.

A woman in Lithuania herself chooses how to spend the decree - 1 year and receive 90% of her salary, or 2 years and receive 70% of her salary in the first year, 40% in the second.

In the Soviet Union there were no such privileges at all, after the birth of a child, they went to work almost immediately or took a decree, but at their own expense. And only after 1981, the duration of the decree was increased to 1 year.

Decree in Belarus today

According to international studies, Belarus ranks 33rd out of 160 in the list of countries in terms of the most favorable conditions for motherhood, and in the CIS it still ranks first. Maternity leave in Belarus consists of two parts:

• maternity leave, which starts from 30 weeks of pregnancy (from 28 in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant zone) and lasts 126 and 146 days respectively;
• maternity leave until they reach the age of three.

Belarus benefits

Payments for maternity leaveholidays in Belarus are made 4 times:

• The first payment that is paid based on the actual wages for 6 months, in other words, the average salary per day, multiplied by 126 or 146 days.
• The second payment is for the birth of a child. The first - 10 living wage budgets, the second and subsequent - 14.
• The third payment is one subsistence minimum budget for timely registration at the antenatal clinic (up to 12 weeks) and regular medical supervision.
• The fourth payment is a monthly allowance paid on a general basis, regardless of wages before the decree. It is 35% of the average salary in the country for 1 child, for 2 or more - 40%, for a disabled child - 45%.

Speaking in numbers, for 2016 maternity leave in Belarus is paid monthly - 2,450,500 for one child, 2,800,500 for two or more, 3,150,600 for a disabled child. The lump-sum allowance is 15,913,100 for the first child, 22,278,340 for the second and subsequent ones. Plus for registration they pay extra 1,591,310.

Belarus also provides for monetary compensation for the birth of twins, it amounts to 2 subsistence minimum budgets for 2016, or 3,182,620.

Reduction of the decree - opinion “for”

The press has repeatedly heard information that Belarus wants to reduce maternity leave. In January 2016, presidential aide Kirill Rudy took the initiative to reduce the period of maternity leave in Belarus to 2 years,arguing that in the current economic conditions, this move will help boost GDP growth by 2.3%.

The second pro is to reduce discrimination against women, which is currently very relevant in the labor market. Employers are afraid of such a length of the decree, during which a woman may lose her professional skills, therefore, representatives of the weaker sex of childbearing age are reluctant to hire. This negatively affects the workforce, creates an obstacle to career and professional growth, and causes low salaries for women.

Another opinion in favor was expressed by Antonina Morozova, former Minister of Labor and Social Protection, arguing that work on maternity leave has become common lately. Belarus is the only country that provides such long sick leave for child care, but in reality more than 70% of women do not use it completely.

Reduction of the decree - opinion against

Information that maternity leave will be reduced in Belarus caused a strong reaction among both young parents and economic analysts.

According to psychologists, the formation of a child takes place in the first three years, so it is best if he spends this time with his mother, and not in kindergarten. In addition, the first interaction with peers is often accompanied by frequent colds. Therefore, the mother will still have to sit with the baby, only already on sick leave, and this may affect the he alth of the child in the future.have an extremely negative impact.

Are there places in kindergartens?

Analysts believe that it is impossible to reduce maternity leave in Belarus, because at the moment, even with a three-year decree, there is an acute shortage of places in nursery and preschool groups, especially in large cities such as Minsk and Gomel. Reducing parental leave should be accompanied by the creation of a large number of nurseries and kindergartens, as well as staffing them with highly qualified nannies and educators.

What about unemployment?

Another disadvantage of the reduction of the decree is the high level of unemployment today. It will be almost impossible for a mom coming out of the decree, if there is no place left for her, to find a new job, especially considering that the first year of the kindergarten she will have regular sick leave for her child. Therefore, three years of maternity leave are optimal in order to raise a child on your own for 2 years, and then send him to a nursery and spend a year of adaptation not at work, but at home on maternity leave.

What is the result?

The situation is clearly ambiguous. On the one hand, the global financial crisis forces us to look for effective solutions to optimize the budget and find funding. It is practically impossible to do this other than to revise social policy and payments. Therefore, in a crisis, the wallet of ordinary citizens suffers first of all.

The second point is discrimination against young women of childbearingof age in the labor market, who are reluctant to be hired due to the long duration of maternity leave, during which it is necessary to keep a place for this employee. In addition, over such a long period, some professional skills may be lost, which will have to be made up later, and this is absolutely unprofitable for the employer.

The other side of the problem suggests that at the moment the infrastructure of preschool institutions is not sufficiently developed in the country to provide more than 10,000 children across the country with them. This means that their creation will require more funds than those that the state budget will receive if maternity leave in Belarus is reduced.

As for work, a woman will still have to take sick leave for her child until he is fully adapted to kindergarten. However, this can cause irreparable harm to the baby in the future, and the employer is unlikely to enjoy regularly paying sick mommy.

Today, this initiative is only being considered, and according to the head of the gender policy department, it will not be implemented in 2016.