International instruments

Article 40

The contingency covered shall be responsibility for the maintenance of children as prescribed.

Article 41

The persons protected shall comprise--

1. prescribed classes of employees, constituting not less than 50 per cent. of all employees; or
2. prescribed classes of the economically active population, constituting not less than 20 per cent. of all residents; or
3. all residents whose means during the contingency do not exceed prescribed limits; or
4. where a declaration made in virtue of Article 3 is in force, prescribed classes of employees, constituting not less than 50 per cent. of all employees in industrial workplaces employing 20 persons or more.

Article 42

The benefit shall be--

1. a periodical payment granted to any person protected having completed the prescribed qualifying period; or
2. the provision to or in respect of children, of food, clothing, housing, holidays or domestic help; or
3. a combination of (a) and (b).

Article 43

The benefit specified in Article 42 shall be secured at least to a person protected who, within a prescribed period, has completed a qualifying period which may be three months of contribution or employment, or one year of residence, as may be prescribed.

Article 44

The total value of the benefits granted in accordance with Article 42 to the persons protected shall be such as to represent--

1. 3 per cent. of the wage of an ordinary adult male labourer, as determined in accordance with the rules laid down in Article 66, multiplied by the total number of children of persons protected; or
2. 1.5 per cent. of the said wage, multiplied by the total number of children of all residents.

Article 45

Where the benefit consists of a periodical payment, it shall be granted throughout the contingency.

PART VIII. MATERNITY BENEFIT

Article 46

Each Member for which this Part of this Convention is in force shall secure to the persons protected the provision of maternity benefit in accordance with the following Articles of this Part.

Article 47

The contingencies covered shall include pregnancy and confinement and their consequences, and suspension of earnings, as defined by national laws or regulations, resulting therefrom.

Article 48

The persons protected shall comprise--

1. all women in prescribed classes of employees, which classes constitute not less than 50 per cent. of all employees and, for maternity medical benefit, also the wives of men in these classes; or
2. all women in prescribed classes of the economically active population, which classes constitute not less than 20 per cent. of all residents, and, for maternity medical benefit, also the wives of men in these classes; or
3. where a declaration made in virtue of Article 3 is in force, all women in prescribed classes of employees, which classes constitute not less than 50 per cent. of all employees in industrial workplaces employing 20 persons or more, and, for maternity medical benefit, also the wives of men in these classes.

Article 49

1. In respect of pregnancy and confinement and their consequences, the maternity medical benefit shall be medical care as specified in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article.
2. The medical care shall include at least--
   1. pre-natal, confinement and post-natal care either by medical practitioners or by qualified midwives; and
   2. hospitalisation where necessary.
3. The medical care specified in paragraph 2 of this Article shall be afforded with a view to maintaining, restoring or improving the health of the woman protected and her ability to work and to attend to her personal needs.
4. The institutions or Government departments administering the maternity medical benefit shall, by such means as may be deemed appropriate, encourage the women protected to avail themselves of the general health services placed at their disposal by the public authorities or by other bodies recognised by the public authorities.

Article 50

In respect of suspension of earnings resulting from pregnancy and from confinement and their consequences, the benefit shall be a periodical payment calculated in such a manner as to comply either with the requirements of Article 65 or with the requirements of Article 66. The amount of the periodical payment may vary in the course of the contingency, subject to the average rate thereof complying with these requirements.

Article 51

The benefit specified in Articles 49 and 50 shall, in a contingency covered, be secured at least to a woman in the classes protected who has completed such qualifying period as may be considered necessary to preclude abuse, and the benefit specified in Article 49 shall also be secured to the wife of a man in the classes protected where the latter has completed such qualifying period.

Article 52

The benefit specified in Articles 49 and 50 shall be granted throughout the contingency, except that the periodical payment may be limited to 12 weeks, unless a longer period of abstention from work is required or authorised by national laws or regulations, in which event it may not be limited to a period less than such longer period.