Maternity And Paternity Leaves Are Further Regulated

July 16, 2024

The Government finally enacted Law No. 4 of 2024 dated July 2, 2024 on Mothers and Children Welfare During the First Thousand Days of Life Phase (the “Mother and Child Law”). The Mother and Child Law contains 9 chapters, 46 articles. The Mother and Child Law came into effect from the date of its enactment.

In this Newsflash, we specifically discuss the provisions regarding maternity and paternity leave, as well as other benefits of working parents regulated under the Mother and Child Law.

♦ General Overview

The Mother and Child Law governs certain rights and obligations of mothers, fathers, as well as children, duties and authorities in administering mothers and children welfare, data and information, funding, and community participation. Under the Mother and Child Law, the term “children” pertains to those within the first thousand days of life, which term is defined as persons whose life begins from the formation of the fetus in the womb until they become 2 years old.

Prior to the issuance of the Mother and Child Law, maternity and paternity leave, miscarriage leave, and their paid leave are governed only under Law Number 13 of 2003 dated March 25, 2003 on Manpower as lastly amended by Government Regulation in Lieu of Law Number 2 of 2022 dated December 20th, 2022 on Job Creation (collectively, the “Manpower Law“). The maternity and paternity leave, miscarriage leave, and other benefits of working parents under the Manpower Law shall continue to apply provided that they do not conflict with the provisions of the Mother and Child Law.

♦ Maternity Leave, Miscarriage Leave, and Salary Structure During Leave Days

The Mother and Child Law stipulates rights for all mothers, such as the right to health services, nutritional security, family planning services, social welfare, accompaniment, a sense of security and comfort, consultation services, psychological services, religious guidance, and education regarding childcare. In addition, every mother has the right to provide exclusive breast milk until a child is 6 months old, and to continue breastfeeding until the child is 2 years old, accompanied by complementary food.

We set out below the comparison of entitlements for female employees under the Manpower Law and the Mother and Child Law:

♦ Paternity Leave

We set out below the comparison of entitlements of male employees between the Manpower Law and the Mother and Child Law:

In addition to the paternity leave, husbands shall be given sufficient time to accompany their wives and/or children in the following circumstances:

Wives who experience health problems, health issues, and/or postpartum complications or miscarriage;
Children who are born while experiencing health problems, health issues, and/or complications;
The wife who gave birth passed away; and/or
The newly born children passed away.

♦ Sanctions

Please be informed that the entitlements under the Mother and Child Law for working parents shall constitute employment rights. While the Mother and Child Law does not provide any specific sanctions in the event of noncompliance by employers, please note that Articles 185 and 186 of the Manpower Law stipulate that an employer who violates the provisions of maternity, paternity, and miscarriage leave may be subject to imprisonment between 1 month and 4 years and/or a monetary fine between Rp100 million and Rp400 million.

While the above provisions are in force regardless of whether these provisions are in employment agreements, company regulations, and/or collective labor agreements, we recommend for employers to revisit their employment agreements, company regulations, and/or collective labor agreements, or internal policies to ensure consistency with the Mother and Child Law in their policies and/or internal regulations to ensure compliance with prevailing Indonesian laws and regulations.

AKSET

Please contact Johannes C. Sahetapy-Engel (jsahetapyengel@aksetlaw.com), Thomas P. Wijaya (twijaya@aksetlaw.com), or Arthur Basa Okuli Nainggolan (anainggolan@aksetlaw.com) for further information.

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