Following amendments to the Child Development Co-savings Act, companies can seek government reimbursement for employees taking their second week of paternity leave.
These changes will take effect from 1 July after the amended Act was passed yesterday (9 May).
The second week of government-paid paternity leave was announced on 23 August last year in the Prime Minister’s National Day Rally speech.
The additional week applies to fathers whose children were born after 1 January 2015 or who applied to adopt children after this date.
Reimbursements can be applied retroactively for staff who took the additional week of leave from 24 August 2015. Claims are capped at $2,500 for each employee.
Employers are entitled to claim for amounts paid to each employee during his absence. This equals to the gross rate of pay for each day of leave taken. Employer contributions to the employee’s Central Provident Fund (CPF) which are not recoverable from the employee’s wages will also be reimbursed by the government.
At time of writing, the second week of paternity leave is not mandatory although further amendments to the Act will be made later this year.
An employee will be entitled to paternity leave if the child is a Singaporean citizen at the time of birth or becomes a citizen 12 months after the time of birth.
The father is also only eligible if he is lawfully married to the child’s mother at the time of conception, becomes lawfully married between conception and birth, or becomes lawfully married within 12 months of the birth of the child.
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