SSS Maternity Benefit for Separated (from Employers) Members

During the early stages of my pregnancy, I thought of leaving my work in a BPO company to focus on my pregnancy but I was hindered by a misconception that I can only avail of the SSS Maternity benefit when I'm employed. However, upon reading some forums, I learned that every pregnant member, whether employed or not, is entitled to avail of the maternity benefit. So after careful consideration, I handed my resignation letter to the company's HR officer and a month after, I bade good bye to the company after almost nine years of love-hate relationship.

Separated members shouldn't have hard time processing their SSS Maternity benefit if the HR officer is well-informed regarding this matter or if their is enough information available online. In my case, the HR officer from my former company haven't experienced a case similar to mine and the SSS employee in-charge of receiving the documents is not clear with his instructions regarding the requirements, so it took me a little longer to finish processing. But I wouldn't rant about that since the purpose of this post is to share information to other members whose situation is similar to mine.

So here are the requirements/documents separated SSS members need to submit in order to be granted the SSS Maternity benefit:

Hello from the Other Side!

It's been a while since my last post and you probably know why - motherhood! If I've said this before, let me say this again, "It's the most exhausting activity I've ever took." It entails lots of sleepless nights, changing of soiled diapers, feedings, carrying a 13-pound baby and a lot more motherly duties. When you become a mother, you start doing some things you haven't done before and stop doing (at least temporarily) some things you used to do before.

No, I am not saying goodbye to this blog. This is too precious for me to abandon. This post is simply meant to let you know that I'm still alive but is too busy to write relevant articles to be posted. I cannot even work on my tasks for three straight hours. I have to squeeze in breastfeeding or changing soiled diaper in between. Truly a big chunk of my time is spent on motherhood - especially that I did not hire a helper for my son. It is indeed a 24/7 job, no rest days or vacation leaves. But I am not complaining. Seeing my son smile each time he sees me is more than enough to pay off my effort. And I am thankful for the opportunity to earn while at home to be the primary person to care for my son.

Here's hoping I can find a way to update this blog regularly (even if not as often as before) but if if not, I'm sure you will understand that I am having a time of my life with my 2-month old.