Maternity allowance for a full-time entrepreneur

In the case of employment under a contract of employment, a pregnant or planning pregnancy worker does not have to worry about the right to maternity benefit. Doubts, on the other hand, arise when it comes to the maternity allowance of an entrepreneur, as well as employment under a contract of employment and running a business.

Entrepreneur maternity allowance

Persons running a business must pay contributions for retirement and disability pension insurance and health insurance, if they do not have any other insurance title, such as an employment contract with a remuneration not lower than the minimum remuneration for work or an awarded pension. However, if the entrepreneur has no other insurance title and social contributions are compulsory for him, he may take advantage of voluntary sickness insurance. It was mentioned because only paying for it gives the entrepreneur an opportunity to receive sickness benefits as well as maternity benefits.

Important! Sickness and maternity allowance is granted to a woman who, while running a business, is subject to voluntary sickness insurance.

In order to receive the sickness allowance, you must be registered for sickness insurance and pay the contributions in a timely manner, continuously for a period of 90 days. Premiums must be paid on time, as late payment will invalidate your sickness insurance benefits.

In the event of pregnancy, the maximum period of sickness benefit is 270 days, and the benefit is paid at the rate of 100% of the calculation basis.

The entrepreneur's maternity allowance is granted to a woman who, during the period of sickness insurance or during parental leave:

• born child,

• adopted a child - up to the age of 7, and in the case of a child whose compulsory education was postponed, up to the age of 10 - for upbringing and applied to the guardianship court regarding his adoption,

• adopted a child - up to the age of 7, and in the case of a child whose compulsory education was postponed until the age of 10 - for upbringing in a foster family, with the exception of a professional foster family.

In the case of maternity allowance, there is no waiting period, i.e. being subject to sickness insurance continuously for a period of 90 days. Maternity Benefit is paid upon payment of at least one full sickness insurance contribution.

Important! You must wait for a waiting period of 90 days in order to be entitled to Illness Benefit. However, this does not apply to the payment of maternity allowance, which is due after paying the first full sickness insurance contribution.

A woman is obliged to take advantage of the maternity allowance for a period of 14 weeks from the date of childbirth, because it is a period intended for the regeneration of her body after pregnancy. After this period, the child's mother has the right to completely withdraw from receiving the allowance and return to work or transfer the right to the child's insured father.

A mother who is insured only on the basis of her activity may decide herself the amount of contributions paid. The higher the contributions, the higher the calculation basis for the allowance, but it grows proportionally and also depends on the duration of the higher contribution. These provisions were introduced in 2016 and were a response to the growing number of high maternity benefits resulting from the increase in the calculation base for voluntary sickness insurance contributions.

It is worth bearing in mind that the entrepreneur cannot increase the base for calculating only the sickness insurance contribution. This basis is common to all compulsory social contributions and increasing it will result in the necessity to pay higher contributions, not only for sickness, but also for old-age, disability and accident insurance.

Maternity allowance of an entrepreneur employed under an employment contract

A person employed under an employment contract is obligatorily subject to retirement, disability, sickness, accident and health insurance. Regardless of the working time and the amount of remuneration, contributions must be deducted from the remuneration and paid by the employer, i.e. the contribution payer.

If the entrepreneur is employed under an employment contract and runs a business at the same time, there is a convergence of insurance titles. In this case, the obligation to pay social contributions for running a business depends on the amount of remuneration resulting from the employment contract. If a person running a business receives at least the minimum wage for employment (PLN 2,100 gross in 2018), the payment of social contributions for running a business is voluntary, only the health insurance contribution is mandatory.

Attention! An entrepreneur employed on a full-time basis with a gross salary of at least 2,100 in 2018 for the activity conducted is obligatory to pay only the health insurance premium.

In the presented situation, even if a pregnant woman running a business decides to voluntarily pay social contributions for her business, she will be entitled to sickness and maternity benefits only on the basis of an employment contract. This is due to the fact that, in the described case, the retirement and disability insurance for the conducted activity is voluntary, while the entrepreneur who pays compulsory social insurance contributions may opt for voluntary sickness insurance. In such a case, the entrepreneur's maternity allowance is payable only under the concluded employment contract.

Important! An entrepreneur who pays voluntary social contributions is not entitled to apply for sickness insurance.

This position is supported by the judgment of the Supreme Court of October 3, 2008, file ref. act: II UK 32/08: "Compulsory sickness insurance for a woman under the employment relationship and obtaining the right to maternity allowance excludes simultaneous coverage of voluntary sickness insurance for non-agricultural activities and obtaining the right to a second maternity allowance".

When considering the coincidence of insurance titles in the context of applying for the entrepreneur's voluntary sickness insurance contribution, attention should be paid to the case when, due to the concluded employment contract, the remuneration does not exceed the minimum wage, which may occur in the case of part-time employment. Such a situation leads to compulsory payment of social contributions for the conducted business activity, and thus to the possibility of paying a voluntary sickness contribution. As a result, it is possible to receive a maternity allowance both on the basis of the concluded employment contract and the conducted business activity.