The World Health Organisation estimates that one in ten babies is born prematurely. In Poland, around twenty thousand babies each year are born too early or have to be hospitalised after birth. The average hospitalisation time for extremely premature babies is 92 days.

When a child is born prematurely, when they are born ill and spend the first weeks of life in hospital, parents face a number of difficulties. Fear for the health and life of the baby is accompanied by the awareness that their time together at home is drastically reduced. It is difficult to consider maternity leave a genuine break when the seemingly endless days are marked by the ticking of a clock mounted on a white hospital wall. And such children need special attention, often rehabilitative care, and develop more slowly than those who were lucky enough to be delivered after full-term and healthy pregnancy.

27 November this year, the Sejm adopted a law introducing additional maternity leave for parents of babies born prematurely and those who were hospitalised after birth due to their health condition. The draft of the new legislation was created at the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy.

Joint success of the government and community representation

Minister Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk began her speech at the Sejm on Wednesday morning by praising the parents of premature babies and hospitalised children. As she stressed, without their determination and commitment this project would not have come to fruition.

“Every day, 60 babies are born who are either premature, tiny, weight less than a 1kg bag of sugar, or are ill and require hospitalisation after birth. That’s 60 children every day, 20,000 children a year”, stated the Minister responsible for Family, Labour and Social Policy. “Very often, parents of premature and sick babies, when their child finally leaves the hospital after countless weeks, in the case of extremely premature babies even after 90 days, begin a new and long chapter. “It is filled with medical consultations, rehabilitative and intensive care. Let us not deprive them of this time.”, she emphasised.

8 or 15 weeks?

The law introduces additional maternity leave of up to 8 weeks or up to 15 weeks – depending on the period of hospitalisation and the week of pregnancy in which the baby is born, as well as the birth weight.

• The parents of children born before the end of the 28th week of pregnancy or with a birth weight of no more than 1,000 g will be eligible for an additional maternity leave of up to 15 weeks after the birth. The number will depend on the length of the child's hospitalisation – one week of additional maternity leave for each week of the child's hospitalisation.
• For parents of a baby born after the 28th and before the 36th week of pregnancy and with a birth weight of more than 1,000g, the additional leave will amount to up to 8 weeks. The principle of one week's leave for one week of hospitalisation will apply here too.
• On the other hand, the parents whose baby was born after the 37th week of pregnancy and will require hospitalisation from the 5th day until the 8th week after the birth, will be eligible for the leave of up to 8 weeks. The requirement here is that after the birth, the baby has to stay in hospital for at least 2 consecutive days between the 5th and 28th day after the birth.

How do you get additional leave?

An application for additional maternity leave may be submitted to the employer together with a medical certificate with information on the week of pregnancy in which the child was born, the child's birth weight and information on the duration of the child's hospitalisation. Leave will be granted to mothers or fathers, as well as legal guardians, foster or adoptive parents.

The benefit for the period of additional maternity leave will amount to 100% of the benefit basis.

The law is expected to enter into force three months after its promulgation. As the Minister responsible for Labour, Family and  Social Policy Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk explained, the early estimates assumed 12 months (the period needed for the Social Insurance Institution to implement the changes).