The Knesset’s Labor and Welfare Committee has given its approval to a proposal that would allow maternity leave pay to be distributed in installments rather than as a single payment. The bill passed its initial reading in the Knesset, and if it is approved in future readings, it will enable women to opt to divide their maternity pay into three equal parts.
“This is a simple and modest bill which was born out of the public’s requests,” explained MK Avraham Bezalel (Shas), who introduced the bill. “The birth of a child brings many expenses with it. Many families find themselves at the start of the third month without money, and find it hard to manage.”
The original version of the bill suggested restructuring the maternity pay system so that payments would be made in three installments for each woman. However, MK Yisroel Eichler, who heads the committee, strongly disagreed with this approach. “We have no right to interfere in how people spend their money,” Eichler remarked, instead proposing that women should have the option to choose whether or not to receive their payments in installments.
The revised bill now allows a woman to request maternity leave payments in installments by submitting a special request to the National Insurance Institute before giving birth. If she does not make such a request, her maternity pay will be issued in one lump sum, as is the current practice.
Currently, women are entitled to six months of legal maternity leave, but only 15 weeks, or almost four months, are paid. As a result, many women return to work after 15 weeks postpartum. The bill is expected to be presented for a vote in the Knesset plenum in the near future.
{Matzav.com Israel}