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paternity leave sss
SSS Paternity Leave

Illustrative Case - Paternity Leave

Jimmy Garcia had been an employee of Makshaft Services Limited for the last ten
(10) years. His wife of six (6) years died last year. They had four (4) children.
He then fell in love with Ritchie, his co- employee, and they got married.

In October this year, Jimmy's new wife is expected to give birth to her first child.
He has accordingly filed his application for paternity leave, conformably with
the provisions of the Paternity Leave Law which took effect in 1996. The HRD
manager of the  firm denied his application, on the ground that Jimmy had already
used up his entitlement under the law. Jimmy argued that he has a new wife who
will be giving birth for the first time, therefore, his entitlement to paternity leave
benefits would begin to run anew.

(a) Whose contention is correct, Jimmy or the HRD manager?

ALTERNATIVE ANSWER:
The contention of Jimmy is correct. The law provides that every married male is
entitled to a paternity leave of seven (7) days for the first four (4) deliveries
of the legitimate spouse with whom he is cohabiting. Ritchie is Jimmy's legitimate
spouse with whom he is cohabiting. The fact that Ritchie is his second wife and that
Jimmy had 4 children with his first wife is beside the point. The important fact is
that this is the first child of Ritchie with Jimmy. The law did not distinguish
and we should therefore not distinguish.

The paternity leave was intended to enable the husband to effectively lend support
to his wife in her period of recovery and/or in the nursing of the newly born child.
(Sec. 3, RA. No. 8187) To deny Jimmy this benefit would be to defeat the rationale
for the law. Moreover, the case of Jimmy is a gray area and the doubt should be
resolved in his favor.

ALTERNATIVE ANSWER:
Jimmy's contention is correct. R.A. No. 8187 provides that paternity leave of (7)
days with full pay shall be granted to all married employees in the private and
public sectors for the first four (4) deliveries of the legitimate spouse with whom
he is cohabiting. With the death of Jimmy's first wife, the first (4) deliveries
provided by law, shall apply to the new legitimate spouse of Jimmy with whom he is
cohabiting.

ALTERNATIVE ANSWER:
Since R.A. No. 8282 is silent on the matter, the doubt should be resolved in favor
of the second wife.


b) Is Ritchie entitled to maternity leave benefits?
      Yes, Ritchie's maternity benefit is personal to her and she is entitled under
      the law to avail herself of the same for the first four times of her deliver.
      (R.A. No.8282)

How to Apply or How to File Paternity leave in SSS?
This is one of the questions I usually read from the Internet, Remember
that Paternity Leave Law is a law different from the SSS law. Paternity leave
is a privilege given to a husband to absent himself from work for
a period of 7 days with pay. The leave is filed with the company where
the employed husband is working and not with the SSS.

Note: Under the law, paternity leave is not paternity loan.
The husband's absence from work is paid as if he is present.
The money given by the employer is not a loan but payment
for work done.


You May like to read:
                                  1. SSS Paternity Leave benefits
                                  2. SSS Paternity Leave requirements