Maternity allowance (Mateřská)
What
Maternity allowance replaces lost income for mothers during maternity leave. Maternity benefits can be paid starting with eight weeks before giving birth. A woman who gave birth to one child may stay on maternity leave 28 weeks. If she gave birth to more than one child, the maternity leave is 37 weeks long. Maternity allowance is similar like a sickness insurance benefit (nemocenské pojištění). Employer is obliged to pay for employed women, but is not compulsory for others (self-employed). For self-employed, it is advisable to pay sickness insurance (nemocenské pojištění) voluntarily to entitlement maternity allowance.
Where
Maternity allowance is paid by the Social Security Administration. If you are employed, you need to have your doctor, gynecologist, fill in the application form and hand it over to your employer. If you are self-employed, you must put forward the application directly to the Social Security Administration (Správa sociálního zabezpečení), before you will give birth. (in Czech, French, English and German): http://www.cssz.cz/cz/nemocenske-pojisteni/
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