Hi All

Just joined this community and wondering if anyone could offer some helpful advice on maternity rights in Geneva area.

What are the income implications in a situation where the mother to be is on long-term sick leave (less than 5 months into pregnancy) ?

Is the employer required to continue full payment ?
Can payment be reduced to 80% as is the case during maternity leave after the baby is born?
Can the employer stop making payments altogether and only minimum medical insurance payments are made ?

Any thoughts on this complex topic would be appreciated.

I was signed off 10 weeks before my due date and received full pay then got the usual maternity pay after the birth. Don't know how far beyond this and at what stage during a pregnancy this would go, though.

Any leave of absence for health reasons before birth is considered sick leave and not maternity leave. Maternity leave begins at birth.
A pregnant woman can not be fired during her pregnancy and for 16 weeks after birth.
In terms of financial compensation, it would depend on the Sick leave policy of the company and then after birth on the minimum maternity leave required by the cantonal law (Geneva has a decent Materniy leave compensation I believe) and/or the Maternity leave policy of the company.

Hope it works out for you

Minimum sickness compensation is defined in Cantonal law and usually depends on number of years employment with that employer. Unfamiliar with GE Law. May be 30 days at full salary.

Actual compensation depends on the insurance policy that the company purchased. Quite often it is 80% of normal salary after the legal entitlement ends. Read your employment contract or ask HR.

We have an "unlimited sick leave policy" where I work (at a Kantonal Hospital).
I had a month sick leave between 16 and 20 weeks and then will work 50% until 34 weeks when I stop completely. I have been paid at 100% during all this time and it won't affect my maternity leave at all which I have been told starts 2 weeks before birth -I might need to clarify that as others have said it starts at birth. Also, when taking holidays during the time I was working 50%, the holidays are calculated at 50% too so for every day I want off, I have 1/2day holiday and 1/2 sick. So long as you have a Dr. certificate, you should be fine.

Also have a look here

The statutory 14 weeks maternity benefits cannot be reduced. Workplace maternity benefits (ie any agreement greater than the statutory 14 weeks) can be reduced if you take time off sick before the birth for pregnancy related reasons. Having your doctor's note saying nothing specific to pregnancy is the way to get around it.

it's not complex; your employer, for the first 90 days of the sick note will pay you as normal.

From day 91 to the day before you give birth, you will get a proportion paid by the employer and the insurance kicks in to cover the rest (making up to 90% of your normal wage, I think).

From the day the child is born, maternity coverage and rights kick in.

Your HR people should be able to confirm this; you've been sending them the sick notes, I assume?