Women who want to work until the ninth month of pregnancy and take the mandatory five-month maternity leave "exclusively after childbirth" will be able to apply to INPS before the two months preceding the expected date of birth. The INPS clarifies this in a circular on the 2019 Budget law that provides for the possibility of working until the ninth month of pregnancy and to abstain from work for five months after giving birth. There must be a medical opinion that certifies that this option does not harm the health of the pregnant woman and the unborn child.
"It is recognized to the workers - the law of Budget for 2019 states - the faculty to abstain from work exclusively after the event of the birth within the five months following the same, on condition that the specialist doctor of the national health service or with it has an agreement and the competent doctor for the purposes of prevention and health protection in the workplace certifies that this option does not prejudice the health of the pregnant woman and the unborn child ". The law came into force on January 1, 2019 but with Circular 148 INPS gives the operating instructions and then unlocks the applications that may have already arrived and accepts the new questions. The health records must be acquired by the worker during the seventh month of pregnancy.
"The certifications that will contain the only reference to the presumed date of the birth - the circular reads - will be considered suitable to allow the carrying out of the working activity up to the day before the presumed date of birth, with consequent beginning of the maternity leave from the presumed date itself, and for the next five months ". In the case of childbirth after the presumed date, the days between the presumed date and the birth "are counted in the maternity leave but cannot be compensated as they are regularly paid by the employer and covered in terms of contributory obligations". Disqualification from work due to serious pregnancy complications "is compatible with the right to abstain from work only after the birth event, as long as the reasons for the aforementioned disqualification cease before the beginning of ante partum maternity leave". Instead, the onset of a period of illness before the event of birth, between the seventh and ninth months, "makes it impossible to make use of the option". On the day of the onset of the morbid event (even if it was a single day), the pregnant worker begins her period of maternity leave and the days of compulsory abstention not taken before are added to the period of maternity leave after the birth. The worker can renounce the choice to make use of this option only before the beginning of the ante partum maternity leave period. If, however, the pregnant worker shows the decision to no longer wish to make use of the option after the start of the ante partum maternity period, the indemnifiable maternity leave will be calculated according to the usual methods (two months before partum and three months postpartum ). Therefore the periods before the birth worked before the renunciation will in any case be counted as a period of maternity, but they will not be compensated since the worker has not abstained from work.
