The relevant joint ministerial decision describes the crucial details of the implementation regime of the new provision for the payment of the maternity allowance by DYPA to self-employed mothers.
It is recalled that the relevant platform for submitting applications for the maternity allowance at DYPA has been open since last week.
The main points of the KYA for the maternity allowance from DYPA are the following:
Beneficiaries and Conditions
1. Mothers insured in the Electronic National Social Security Agency (eEFKA), who work as freelancers, self-employed or farmers, as shown by their insurance status, are entitled to the special provision of maternity protection, for a period of 9 months.
Beneficiaries of the benefit in question are also the persons referred to in paragraph 3A of article 151 of Law 5078/2023, according to their joint declaration to e-EFKA.
The Public Employment Service (DYPA) pays the beneficiaries a monthly amount equal to the current minimum wage, in accordance with the provisions of article 3 hereof. In the event that the mother is insured under the e-EFKA as a self-employed professional, self-employed or farmer and at the same time as an employee or salaried employee, this does not apply, but the corresponding CPA that regulates the maternity leave of employees with dependent work .
2. Necessary conditions for granting this benefit are:
- The receipt of the e-EFKA maternity allowance based on Article 6 of Law 4097/2012, or in the case of adoption, the “integration of the child into the family”, as defined by paragraph 1b of Article 228 of the p.d. 80/2022 or the publication of a final adoption court decision.
- The insurance awareness of the beneficiary at the time of submitting the application and during the period of receiving the benefit.
Online application process
1. The application for the special maternity protection benefit is submitted by the insured mothers of the e-EFKA who work as freelancers, self-employed or farmers, who are subject to the e-EFKA, in these capacities, for cash benefits.
The application is submitted to the D.YPA. at any time within two months, from the day after the payment of the e-EFKA pregnancy and maternity allowance. Especially for the acquisition of a child through the process of adoption, the application to the D.YPA.A. submitted within two months from the day after the child’s integration into the family, or the finality of the court decision.
2. The application for granting the special maternity protection benefit is submitted electronically, after authentication of the insured, through the electronic services of the D.YP.A. to the KPA2 Service of her place of residence. When submitting the application, the insured is notified electronically as to whether she is insured.
In case of debts, the request to the platform is accepted only after payment of its debts. The application is subject to the position of responsible declaration of Law 1599/1986 in terms of the information included and referred to in it. The inaccuracy of the declared data entails the rejection of the application and the prescribed criminal and administrative sanctions.
The application constitutes an authorization to the D.YPA.A. for the use and processing of the personal data included in it, in order to carry out the required control, in order to establish the fulfillment of the stipulated conditions.
3. The competent employees of the D.YPA.A. have access to the details of the online service to check and process requests.
Benefit Payment Procedure
1. After the submission of the application, the competent KPA2 Service of the DYPA conducts a door-to-door check of the fulfillment of the conditions for granting the present provision based on the data kept by the competent bodies as the case may be.
During the processing of the application, in the event that the ex officio process of searching for the supporting documents is not possible, the applicants provide the evidence of the conditions mentioned above.
2. The competent body for the recognition of the right to join the benefit is the Head of the KPA2 Service, to which the application is submitted, in accordance with paragraph 2 of article 2 hereof.
3. DYPA checks throughout the duration of the benefit that the conditions for granting the benefit are fulfilled, taking into account the validity period of the relevant supporting documents.
4. The payment of the special maternity protection benefit starts on the first of the month following the application.
5. The benefit is interrupted if, during the granting of the special benefit, the insured:
- lose her professional capacity, or
- is not insurance aware, or
- take up salaried work, or
- submits a relevant request.
In the event that the insured pays the due insurance contributions, she may apply electronically for the reinstatement of the benefit retroactively from the month it was interrupted.
In any case, the total period of payment of the special maternity protection benefit, after deferred payment of the insurance contributions, cannot exceed twelve months.
6. The mother who is subject to the present insurance scheme and maintains an employed or salaried position at the same time, receives the subsidy as an employed person. In the event that during the leave she loses her status as a tenant, then for the remaining period of time she can receive the special benefit, i.e. as a non-tenant, if she submits a relevant request to DYPA.
7. The special provision of maternity protection is tax-free, non-assignable and non-seizable in the hands of the State in a broad sense or third parties, it is not subject to any fee, levy or other retention in favor of the State or e-EFKA.
Transfer of special maternity protection benefit to the father
1. The beneficiary mother, natural, adoptive or assumed, is entitled to transfer up to seven months of the special maternity protection provision to the father, natural, adoptive or through the process of surrogate motherhood.
2. A condition for the transfer of the special benefit to the father is that the mother is its beneficiary and that she herself has previously used a part of it for at least the first two months of the benefit.
3. The special maternity protection benefit can be transferred to the father, regardless of whether he is employed under private law in the private sector or with a salaried mandate, or is self-employed, self-employed or a farmer. The father is entitled to receive the special benefit that the mother has transferred to him, as long as he is insured. In the case where the father is employed under private law in the private sector, the special benefit transferred to him by the mother is considered as leave.
4. The mother, as long as she is a beneficiary of the special maternity protection benefit, chooses the way in which she will exercise her right and in particular whether she will exercise all of it herself or whether she will transfer part of her right, up to seven months to the father. The mother can also determine the intervals during which she or the father will make use of the special provision.
The distribution of the periods of use of the benefit, following transfer according to this, can be done continuously and in addition between the parents. In such cases of distribution of the provision between the parents with joint responsible declarations in terms of content, the periods of time during which the parents can make use of this provision consecutively between them can be determined.
5. For the granting of a special maternity protection benefit to the father, this applies, regardless of whether he works in a dependent labor relationship under private law, is self-employed, self-employed or a farmer.
The time during which the self-employed father receives the benefit is counted as insurance time in the pension and sickness branch of the e-EFKA, as long as he continues to pay his insurance contributions.
In the case of an employed working father, with a dependent labor relationship under private law, for as long as he receives the benefit that the mother has transferred to him, he is subsidized with an amount equal to the current minimum wage, he receives proportions of holiday gifts and leave allowance and is insured based on insurance scheme to which it belongs.
In particular, the time of the special maternity protection leave is counted as insurance time in the main pension and sickness branches of the e-EFKA, as well as in the relevant supplementary insurance bodies, and the prescribed contributions are calculated on the respective minimum wage, from which the DYPA withholds the prescribed insured contribution and pays it to the competent bodies together with the prescribed employer contribution borne by DYPA.
Unduly paid amounts
In case of undue payment of the special benefit, due to the revocation of the decision to grant it, the amount unduly paid is sought, in accordance with the existing legislation and the provisions of the Public Revenue Collection Code (K.E.D.E.).
Objections
Objections against the decisions of the competent bodies are filed within a 30-day deadline from the notification and are examined by the competent body of DYPA.
Transitional provisions
1. The applications and declarations of the insured mothers of the e-EFKA for the granting of a special maternity protection benefit that have been submitted since the entry into force of Law 5078/2023 and thereafter, have the status of an application and are examined in order of priority based on date of filing.
2. For insured persons who have given birth between 24/9/2023 and the publication of this notice and have not submitted the application of the previous paragraph to DYPA, the deadline for this submission is exceptionally set at two months from the publication of this notice and not from the payment of the e-EFKA maternity allowance.
Tags: Maternity benefit key points selfemployed beneficiaries
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