From September 1, 2020, entitlement to receive maternity, paternity and parental benefit will be granted to persons for whom compulsory state social insurance contributions (SSIAI) for maternity, paternity or parental insurance have been made or had to be paid in the Republic of Latvia:
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at least three months in the last six month period before the month in which the insured event occurred, or
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for at least six months in the last 24 month period.
These benefits, which will be granted from September 1, also retain all the existing conditions for determining entitlement.
The date of occurrence of the insured event for maternity benefit is the first day of maternity leave, for paternity benefit – the first day of leave granted to the child’s father, and for parental benefit – the date from which parental benefit is granted.
For example: maternity leave starts on September 3, 2020. You will be entitled to maternity benefit if the contributions have been paid for at least three months in the six-month period from March 2020 to August 2020, or if the maternity insurance contributions have been paid for at least 6 months in the 24-month period from September 2018 to August 2020.
The qualification period is the period during which a person has been employed or self-employed and compulsory social insurance contributions for maternity, paternity and parental insurance have been paid. Part-time months are also included in the qualification period. The three or six month periods of insurance contributions taken into account for determining the qualifying period may not be consecutive.
The qualification period, regardless of the payment of the SSICC, includes the time during which a person, being an employed or self-employed person, has been on maternity leave, parental leave, parental leave for the father or temporary incapacity for work during the specified 6-month or 24-month period, and also has received downtime allowance, downtime assistance benefit or continued parental benefit.
Insurance periods registered in other countries are also included if the person has not been employed in Latvia during the qualification period specified by law, but has been employed in one of the EU/EEA member states or Switzerland. Insurance periods accumulated in Russia and Ukraine are also taken into account when determining entitlement to maternity benefit.
If a woman has been granted maternity benefit for a child, she is also entitled to parental benefit for the same child, regardless of whether she has the qualifying period for parental benefit.
Example 1:
The woman is an employee and has been on parental leave for a year and a half. After this leave, on July 15, 2020, she will resume work. The woman is expecting her second child, from September 18 she is going on maternity leave and is claiming maternity benefit. As parental leave constitutes a qualifying period, a woman is entitled to maternity benefit for the unborn child.
Example 2:
The first day of maternity leave for a woman is September 2, 2020, employment was terminated on August 1, 2020. In this case, the woman would be entitled to maternity benefit because she lost her status as an employee within 60 days before maternity leave. However, in the last 24 months before maternity leave, the woman has been an employee and has only earned income for 4 months. Consequently, maternity benefit will not be granted, as both conditions must be met at the same time.