Breastfeeding leave and breastfeeding breaks
If you are breastfeeding, you may be entitled to additional leave days. There are 3 types of breastfeeding leave: regular breastfeeding leave, preventive removal from work during breastfeeding, and breastfeeding breaks at work. Each type of breastfeeding leave has its own conditions and characteristics. You can read all about them here.
Regular breastfeeding leave
Regular breastfeeding leave has no legal framework. With your employer’s consent, you take unpaid leave to breastfeed your baby. There are different ways to arrange breastfeeding leave:
- You reach an agreement with your employer.
- The conditions are laid down in a collective labour agreement (CLA).
- The conditions are laid down in the work regulations.
Allowance
For regular breastfeeding leave, you do not receive a salary or allowance. Therefore, you do not need to submit an application to Helan.
Removal from work while breastfeeding
In some cases, you may not be able to return to work while you are still breastfeeding because certain tasks may be dangerous to your health or that of your baby. In this case, you can apply for preventive removal from work.
Unlike regular breastfeeding leave, preventive removal from work due to breastfeeding may entitle you to an allowance from Helan. Important to know:
- Preventive removal from work due to breastfeeding can last for a maximum of 5 months, starting from the day of birth.
- It is not necessary for preventive removal from work due to breastfeeding to start immediately after maternity leave.
- If you receive an allowance, it amounts to 60% of your salary. This amount is capped.
Allowance
You apply for your preventive removal from work through Helan. Your allowance is also paid through Helan.
Breastfeeding breaks: your rights as a working mother
If you are breastfeeding after giving birth and return to work, you are entitled to breastfeeding breaks. These are paid breaks during the workday in which you can feed your child or express milk.
Basic rules
- A breastfeeding break lasts 30 minutes.
- If you work at least 4 hours a day, you are entitled to 1 break. If you work 7.5 hours or longer, you may take 2 breaks, either together or separately.
- You determine the break times in consultation with your employer.
- The right to breastfeeding breaks lasts up to 9 months after the birth.
- Your employer does not have to pay your salary during the breaks, but you will receive an allowance from Helan.
Allowance
You apply for your breastfeeding breaks at work through your employer. Helan pays your allowance.
Requesting breastfeeding breaks at work
Inform your employer at least 2 months in advance about your breastfeeding breaks. You can send a registered letter or hand in a letter and request a proof of receipt.
Each month, you must provide your employer with proof that you are still breastfeeding and therefore entitled to these breaks. You do this with a medical certificate or a certificate from Child and Family (Kind en Gezin).
Your employer sends us a monthly certificate stating the number of half-hours you did not work and your income. Based on this, we calculate your allowance.
Submit the certificate to us:
- digitally
- in a Helan drop-off mailbox
- or by post: Helan health insurance fund, Boomsesteenweg 5, 2610 Wilrijk.
Through the health insurance fund, you are entitled to an allowance for breastfeeding breaks, equal to 82% of your gross monthly salary.
Good to know
Once your application for breastfeeding breaks has been submitted, you are protected against dismissal. This special protection lasts until the end of the month following your last breastfeeding certificate.
If you are unlawfully dismissed during this period, your employer must pay, in addition to the standard severance pay, an extra 6 months’ salary.
Frequently asked questions about breastfeeding leave and breastfeeding breaks
- If you work 7.5 hours per day, you are entitled to 1 hour of break to breastfeed or express milk. Depending on your work situation, you can take either one 1-hour break or split the break into two 30-minute breaks.
- If you work less than 7.5 hours per day, you are entitled to a 30-minute break to breastfeed or express milk.
- Inform your employer at least 2 months before you start taking breastfeeding breaks.
- Provide your employer with a medical certificate or a certificate from the child health clinic confirming that you are breastfeeding.
You can take breastfeeding breaks until your baby is 9 months old. Please note that you need a medical certificate or a certificate from the child health clinic for this.
The breastfeeding break allowance is a replacement income. You must declare it in your annual tax return. A withholding tax of 11.11% is deducted from your allowance.
- For regular breastfeeding leave, you do not receive a salary or allowance; this leave is unpaid.
- If you opt for preventive removal from work because your job involves risks to your health or your baby’s health, you are entitled to an allowance via Helan.
- If you take breastfeeding breaks at work, you do not receive a salary from your employer, but you do receive an allowance via Helan.
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Need breastfeeding or pumping supplies?
In the Helan Healtcare Shop, as a Helan customer you get 30% off your breast pump. Ideal if you want to build up a stock and maintain your milk supply once you return to work.
Breastfeeding webinar
Get answers to the most frequently asked questions about breastfeeding from midwife Elisabeth and customer advisor Stéphanie during the webinar “Breastfeeding: from latching on to bottle feeding”.
More about leave arrangements
Discover everything about pregnancy
Also check the central file: everything about pregnancy.