FAQ

Female employees who meet the following eligibility requirements at the same time can apply to the Social Security Fund for Maternity Leave Pay Subsidy:

1. Within three years after Law No. 8/2020 came into force (i.e. from 26 May 2020 to 25 May 2023), a female employee who is in any of the following situations will be entitled to maternity leave according to law:
- Childbirth;
- Give birth to a stillborn baby;
- Involuntary miscarriage after more than three months of pregnancy;
- Live birth baby dies during the female employee’s maternity leave.

2. When any of the facts referred to in Point 1 occurs, the female employee must be holding a Macao SAR Resident ID Card and must have a labour relationship with her employer for more than one year, and the maternity leave pay given by the employer must be less than 70 days.

Female employees should file an application within 120 days from the date of childbirth (or from the day of occurrence of other circumstances where female employees are entitled to maternity leave according to law).

According to the latest revised Labour Relations Law, in general situations, the maternity leave available to female employees has increased from 56 to 70 days. According to the transitional provisions, employers must give at least 56 days of maternity leave pay to eligible local female employees who give birth (or other circumstances where female employees are entitled to maternity leave according to law) within three years of the coming into force of Law No. 8/2020, and the Social Security Fund will give the employee a subsidy equal to the difference between the maternity leave pay the employee is entitled to receive according to law and the maternity leave pay actually given by the employer, and the upper limit is 14 days of basic remuneration.

To apply for the Subsidy, the applicant must complete a dedicated form and bring along the following documents:

1. Present the original Macao SAR Resident ID Card of the applicant;

2. Choose to give consent to the Social Security Fund for requesting the child’s birth registration information from the Civil Registry Office of the Government of the Macao SAR; or submit a photocopy of the child’s birth registration certificate/a photocopy of the brief report of birth (required to present the original); or submit a photocopy of the medical certificate issued by a licensed doctor in Macao or a doctor accepted by the employer (required to present the original);

3. Payslips for the last three months before the start of maternity leave (the original must be presented), as a reference for the vetting and approval of applications;

4. A photocopy of the applicant’s MOP bank account information (the applicant is exempted from submitting this document if she has previously received benefit payment from the Social Security Fund and there is no change to the bank account information).

Applications that meet the eligibility requirements shall be processed within 60 days from the day the Social Security Fund receives all the required documents, and the Subsidy will be paid within the month following the approval decision. The Social Security Fund will then notify the applicant of the outcome of application by mail or by mobile text message (SMS).

Yes, you can. To apply for the Subsidy, you must submit the birth registration certificate of the child/a medical certificate.

Yes, they can.

No, they cannot. The subsidy measures only apply to local female employees.

Yes, she can. A local female employee may apply for two subsidies if she has more than one year’s labour relationship with two employers on the date of childbirth (or the day of occurrence of other circumstances where female employees are entitled to maternity leave according to law) and she also meets other legal requirements at the same time.

No, she cannot. According to Article 4(4) of Law No. 8/2020, employers must not reduce or cancel the working conditions that are more favourable to employees and had been in effect before this Law came into effect because the female employee was given the Maternity Leave Pay Subsidy. Therefore, the employer must pay the 70-day maternity leave pay according to the original working conditions.