Clause 4

by deleting the words “section 9A” in subsections (1), (1A), (1B), (1C), (1D), (1E), (1F), (4), (4A), (4B) and (4C) and substituting in each case the words “sections 9A and 12E”;

by inserting, immediately after subsection (5), the following subsections:“(5A) Unless disqualified by subsection (5B), and subject to section 9A and any regulations made under section 20, every woman who is or was a female employee or a self-employed woman, who delivers a child and satisfies the requirements under section 9A(2), shall be entitled to claim from the Government —

an amount equivalent to 56 days of her total income during such period before delivery as may be prescribed, where the child is delivered during her first or second confinement; or

an amount equivalent to 112 days of her total income during such period before delivery as may be prescribed, where the child is delivered during her third or subsequent confinement.(5B) A woman who is or was a female employee or a self-employed woman shall not be entitled to claim any payment from the Government under subsection (5A) in respect of any period if —

she is also a female employee who is entitled to absent herself from work or to receive payment from her employer under subsection (1), (1A), (1B), (1C), (1D), (1E) or (1F), in respect of the same confinement, regardless of whether she has forfeited her entitlement (or balance thereof) to absent herself from work or to receive payment from her employer under subsection (3) or (3A), as the case may be; or

she is also a self-employed woman who is entitled to claim from the Government her loss of income under subsection (4), (4A), (4B) or (4C), in respect of the same confinement.(5C) Notwithstanding subsections (3), (3A) and (5B), but subject to section 9A and any regulations made under section 20, a female employee whose employment is terminated upon the completion of her contract of service, before she has exercised, wholly or partly, her entitlement to absent herself from work or to receive payment from her employer under subsection (1), (1A), (1B), (1C), (1D), (1E) or (1F), shall be entitled to claim from the Government payment at her gross rate of pay for the applicable period in subsection (5D) if —

her confinement occurs, or the estimated delivery date (as certified by a medical practitioner) for her confinement is, on or after 1st January 2013; and

she is entitled to absent herself from work or to receive payment from her employer under subsection (1), (1A), (1B), (1C), (1D), (1E) or (1F). (5D) Where —

the child is delivered during a former female employee’s first or second confinement, the period shall be determined by the formula 56 − N; and

the child is delivered during a former female employee’s third or subsequent confinement, the period shall be determined by the formula 112 − N,where “N” means the number of days in which the former female employee has exercised her entitlement to absent herself from work or to receive payment from her employer under subsection (1), (1A), (1B), (1C), (1D), (1E) or (1F), before her employment was terminated upon the completion of her contract of service.”;

by inserting, immediately after subsection (6), the following subsections:“(7) In subsection (5A), “total income”, in relation to a period prescribed for the purposes of subsection (5A), means —

in the case of a female employee who is or was employed by one or more employers in that period, the total gross rate of pay which she is entitled to receive from all her employers in respect of that period;

in relation to a woman who is or was self‑employed, the income she derived from her trade, business, profession or vocation during the prescribed period; and

in relation to a woman who is or was both a female employee and a self-employed woman in that period, the aggregate of —

the total gross rate of pay which she is entitled to receive from all her employers in respect of the period she was employed during the prescribed period; and

the income she derived from her trade, business, profession or vocation, where she was self-employed, during the prescribed period.(8) Where —

any amount has been paid by the Government to a woman who delivers a child and who is or was a female employee or a self-employed woman under subsection (5A);

the woman is entitled to absent herself from work or to receive payment from her employer under subsection (1), (1A), (1B), (1C), (1D), (1E) or (1F) or to claim from the Government her loss of income under subsection (4), (4A), (4B) or (4C), as the case may be, for that same child; and

subsection (5C) does not apply to the woman,the Government may recover that amount from the woman as a civil debt.”; and

by deleting the section heading and substituting the following section heading:“Length of maternity benefit period, etc., for female employee or self-employed woman”.