Pathological leave is a work stoppage granted to pregnant women for medical reasons. It can be prescribed as soon as the declaration of pregnancy is made. How long is it ? Who to ask? In what cases is it granted? What allowances? Here’s everything you need to know about sick leave.
How long is maternity leave?
Maternity leave is a period of rest granted to women during their pregnancy and after the birth of their child(ren). Its duration, fixed by law, depends on the number of children you are expecting and the number of children you have already had. It is calculated from the presumed date of your delivery. Maternity leave can range from 16 weeks (the minimum) to 46 weeks (the maximum). It includes prenatal leave and postnatal leave. To this maternity leave can be added the pathological leave. As its name suggests, it is prescribed in the event of a pathological condition linked to your pregnancy and cannot exceed two weeks.
How to benefit from the pathological leave?
Your gynecologist or your attending physician may decide to prescribe you a pathological leave during your pregnancy for several medical reasons:
- tired ;
- back pain ;
- stress;
- contractions;
- high blood pressure;
- difficult working conditions that could hinder the smooth running of your pregnancy.
This list is not exhaustive, only your doctor or gynecologist can deem it useful to prescribe a prenatal pathological leave. The practitioner can therefore offer it to you depending on your state of health, but you can also ask him for it (even if it is not systematically granted). The pathological leave cannot last more than 14 consecutive days and must be taken before the start of the maternity leave. It cannot be carried over to the postnatal period.
Once the work stoppage (with indication of a pathological state of pregnancy) has been prescribed by your doctor, you must send the document to your employer as soon as possible. The latter must then establish a salary certificate and send it to the primary health insurance fund (CPAM) on which you depend. This document will serve as the basis for calculating your daily allowances.
What allowances?
During your pathological leave, you receive daily allowances paid by Social Security. The calculation is the same as for compensation during maternity leave. If you are an employee, the daily allowance received is calculated on the wages of the 3 months preceding your maternity leave or of the 12 preceding months in the event of non-continuous or seasonal activity. The minimum is 9.63 euros per day and the maximum is 89.03 euros per day (ceiling set by Social Security), before deduction of 21% charges.
To find out the estimated amount of your daily allowances during your medical leave, you can go to the website ameli.fr and perform a simulation.
Postnatal pathological leave: a classic sick leave with some specificities
Please note that prenatal pathological leave is not to be confused with the sick leave that can be granted to women after their postnatal maternity leave and which is commonly called postnatal pathological leave. This lasts a maximum of four weeks and is taken all at once. It must start when the postnatal maternity leave ends (the two follow one another). Postnatal pathological leave is prescribed by your gynecologist or your attending physician in the event of problems directly related to childbirth or the arrival of your baby. It can be a caesarean section with complications, postpartum depression, etc.
Note that the daily allowances paid during postnatal pathological leave are not the same as those paid during prenatal pathological leave. Since postnatal pathological leave is assimilated to conventional sick leave, the daily allowances are equal to 50% of the basic daily salary. You will therefore be paid less than during your prenatal pathological leave. Finally, postnatal pathological leave is not breastfeeding leave (abolished in 1975), even if some complacent doctors prescribe it to their patients wishing to prolong their breastfeeding.