Muscat: The maternity leave insurance for citizens and expatriates working in the Sultanate of Oman will be implemented from July 19, the Social Protection Fund (SPF) said on its official platform.
It will apply to employees of both private and public sectors and includes all types of contracts, including temporary contracts, training contracts, and retired workers. It does not apply to self-employed Omanis, part-time Omanis working in the GCC, and Omanis working abroad. The provisions of this section shall also be mandatory for non-Omani workers working in the Sultanate of Oman, clarified the SPF.
The employer is obligated to pay the monthly contributions for the maternity leave insurance branch to the fund at the rate of one per cent of the wage per month, calculated daily.
The insured is entitled to a maternity leave allowance for a period of 98 days, of which 14 may be before the date of delivery.
The insured is also entitled to a paternity leave allowance for seven days, provided that the child is born alive and the leave does not exceed the 98th day of the child’s life, and these periods are included within the period of actual service.
The employer may not oblige the insured woman to begin work during the leave period, and if the insured woman moves to another employer, the maternity leave allowance will continue to be paid according to the last wage before the move.
For the insured woman or woman entitled to the job security allowance to be entitled to a maternity leave allowance, the pregnancy must have exceeded the 25th week.
In the event of the death of the child after the twenty-fifth week, the insured woman is entitled to the vacation allowance. In the event of the death of the insured woman during childbirth or during the aforementioned leave, the insured father shall be entitled to the remaining leave allowance for the mother to take care for the child.
The insured father shall also be entitled to the same leave allowance in the event of the death of the uninsured mother during childbirth or during the aforementioned leave.
The insured woman is entitled to the maternity leave allowance in the event of adopting a child deprived of his natural family if she submits documents supporting this, provided that the age of the child does not exceed three months when submitting the leave request, and the leave shall be for no more than three.
More than 98 days from the date of the child’s birth.
The insured is also entitled — in the case of fostering — to the paternity leave allowance stipulated in the same article, provided that the child’s age does not exceed three months when submitting the leave request.
The maternity leave allowance will continue to be paid if the insured woman’s service ends during the leave period, provided that she is entitled to the job security insurance allowance, and the maternity leave allowance will be of the same value as the job security insurance allowance, provided that the payment of the job security insurance allowance will resume after the end of the maternity leave period.
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