Maternity and Paternity Leave: Who Pays for the 98 Days
A new mother on your team gets 98 days on full pay and a new father gets 7. You still pay on payday, but the Social Protection Fund carries the cost. Here is how the money moves.
Someone on your team is expecting a baby. Under Oman's rules, a mother gets 98 days of maternity leave on full pay and a father gets 7 days of paternity leave. Since 19 July 2024, the Social Protection Fund pays for it through a 1% contribution you already make each month. Your company does not carry the cost.
What the law grants new parents
The leave itself is set by the Labour Law (Royal Decree 53/2023). A royal decree is a law issued by His Majesty the Sultan. Here is what new parents get, in one table.
| Entitlement | What it gives | Paid? |
|---|---|---|
| Maternity leave | 98 days, covering before and after the birth. Up to 14 days can be taken before the birth, on a doctor's recommendation | Full pay |
| Paternity leave | 7 days, if the child is born alive. Must be taken by the baby's 98th day | Full pay |
| Nursing hour | 1 hour a day to care for the baby, for one year after maternity leave ends | Yes, it counts as working time |
| Childcare leave | Up to one year off, on the mother's request | Unpaid. Counts as service, but not toward end of service gratuity |
The law also protects the job. Under Article 12, ending a worker's contract because of pregnancy, childbirth or nursing counts as arbitrary dismissal, which means a dismissal without a lawful reason. A court can order the worker's reinstatement or compensation. Because unpaid childcare leave does not count toward gratuity, it also changes the end of service gratuity calculation later on.
Who funds maternity and paternity leave
Under the old system, the employer paid maternity leave out of its own pocket. The International Labour Organization (ILO) noted this made some companies less willing to hire women. The Social Protection Law (Royal Decree 52/2023) changed that by creating a maternity leave insurance branch. An insurance branch is a separate pot inside the Fund, set aside for one kind of benefit.
- Who pays in: every employer pays 1% of each worker's wage, every month, into the maternity branch. The worker pays nothing toward it.
- Who is covered: Omani and non-Omani employees alike. The paternity allowance comes from the same branch.
- Who hands over the money: you do, on your normal payday. The Fund then refunds or settles what you paid, as the Social Protection Fund's maternity page and its Executive Regulation explain.
- Pension contributions: for Omani mothers, pension contributions continue during the leave, and the Fund settles them with the employer. Her future pension does not shrink because she had a baby.
Some special cases are covered too. If the baby dies after the 25th week of pregnancy, the mother still gets the allowance. If the mother dies during childbirth or during her leave, the father receives the rest of the leave allowance so he can care for the child. If her job ends during the leave, the allowance keeps going until the leave ends.
A worked example you can copy
Example (composite): Noura is a stylist at a salon in Al Khuwair and earns OMR 450 a month. Her maternity leave runs from 1 November 2026 to 6 February 2027, which is exactly 98 days. Swap in your own numbers line by line.
| Step | How to work it out | Noura's numbers |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Monthly wage | From her payslip | OMR 450 |
| 2. Your 1% maternity contribution | Wage × 1%, every month, pregnant or not | OMR 4.50 a month |
| 3. Daily rate | 450 × 12 ÷ 365 | OMR 14.79 |
| 4. Allowance for the leave | 14.79 × 98 days | About OMR 1,450 |
| 5. Her November, December and January payslips | Full wage, paid by you on payday | OMR 450 each |
| 6. Her February payslip | 6 days of leave plus 22 days of work | OMR 450 |
| 7. What you claim back from the Fund | The leave allowance from step 4 | About OMR 1,450 |
The same maths works for fathers. Example (composite): Hamed, a technician at a workshop in Salalah, earns OMR 380. His daily rate is 380 × 12 ÷ 365 = OMR 12.49, so 7 days of paternity leave comes to about OMR 87. For the whole salon, if total wages are OMR 2,400 a month, the maternity contribution is OMR 24 a month, or OMR 288 a year.
What this means for you
The real cost to you is cash flow, not the wage bill. You pay Noura in full on payday, then wait for the Fund to refund or settle it. A small team should plan for that gap. The exact claim steps and refund timing were not publicly available when this article was written, so ask the Fund how it works before your first case.
- Check that the 1% maternity contribution appears in your monthly Social Protection Fund payment for every worker, Omani and expatriate.
- When an employee tells you about a pregnancy, write down the expected due date and the planned leave start date.
- Set aside roughly three months of her wage so you can pay her on time while the refund is processed.
- Plan cover early. 98 days is about 14 weeks, so arrange a temporary helper or share her work across the team.
- When she returns, add the daily nursing hour to her schedule for 12 months. Do not cut her pay for it.
The bottom line
New mothers get 98 days on full pay and new fathers get 7, and the Social Protection Fund carries the cost through your 1% monthly contribution. Your job is to pay on time, claim the money back and plan the cash gap. Share this with anyone on your team who is expecting, so they know their rights too.
