Maternity Pay: Rules for Employees, MEIs, Individual Contributors, and Special Insured Workers

This page is a translation of the original Portuguese text, provided for convenience. It deals with Brazilian law. If there is any discrepancy, the Portuguese version prevails. Read the original in Portuguese

Maternity pay (salário-maternidade) is paid by Brazil’s Social Security system for 120 days and covers employees, casual port workers, domestic employees, individual contributors, MEIs (individual microentrepreneurs), voluntary insured women, and special insured workers. The waiting period has been eliminated for every category, but insured status is still required, and the way the benefit is calculated varies.

Who is entitled to maternity pay

The Constitution guarantees pregnant workers 120 days of leave without loss of employment or pay, under Article 7, item XVIII. Within the General Social Security Regime (RGPS), the corresponding benefit is maternity pay, governed by Articles 71 to 73 of Law 8.213/1991.

Under Article 71, maternity pay is owed for 120 days, beginning at some point between 28 days before the birth and the date of the birth. The right extends to all women insured under the RGPS and also to cases of adoption and court-ordered custody for the purpose of adoption. The way the monthly amount is calculated depends on the category. The current guidance from the INSS (Brazil’s National Social Security Institute) waives the waiting period for every category, provided the woman proves she has insured status.

This difference in calculation has a direct practical effect. The categories can produce different amounts even when the woman was covered by Social Security on the date of the event. The sections below explain how payment works, how to prove affiliation, and what amount is owed in each situation.

Employees and casual port workers: full pay and no waiting period

For insured employees and casual port workers (trabalhadoras avulsas), Article 72 of Law 8.213/1991 sets the monthly benefit equal to full pay. There is no reduction: the amount matches what the worker earned while on the job, which preserves her income level during the leave.

These insured workers, along with the domestic employee, are exempt from the waiting period. Article 26, item VI, lists maternity pay for employees, casual port workers, and domestic employees among the benefits that do not require a minimum number of contributions. A recent hiring, therefore, does not bar the benefit, as long as insured status is still in place at the time of the triggering event.

Payment works a little differently depending on the worker. As a rule, the employer pays an employee’s maternity pay and offsets the amount against its Social Security contributions. An employee of an individual microentrepreneur receives payment directly from the INSS, under Article 72, paragraph 3, of Law 8.213/1991. For casual port workers and domestic employees, Social Security pays the benefit directly, with no employer in between.

Individual contributors and MEIs: insured status and calculation by average

Individual contributors and voluntary insured women are exempt from the waiting period for maternity pay. The INSS adopted the decision in ADIs (direct actions of unconstitutionality) 2.110 and 2.111 through Normative Instruction 188/2025. The waiver does not remove the need to prove insured status, and it does not allow retroactive affiliation to be presumed from any payment made after the event.

The individual microentrepreneur (MEI) is a sole proprietor, as provided in Article 18-A of Complementary Law 123/2006. For Social Security purposes, she contributes as an individual contributor, so the affiliation and calculation rules for that category apply to her, not the rules for employees.

The worker’s category determines how to prove affiliation and calculate the benefit; waiving the waiting period does not replace insured status.

For individual contributors, voluntary insured women, and individual microentrepreneurs, the amount follows Article 73, item III: it equals one-twelfth of the sum of the last twelve contribution salaries, calculated over a period of no more than fifteen months. Those who contribute on the minimum base tend to receive an amount close to the floor, while higher contributions raise the average used as the reference.

Special insured workers: one minimum wage and proof of rural activity

The special insured worker (segurada especial) is a rural worker in a family farming arrangement, such as a farmer or an artisanal fisherwoman. For her, the sole paragraph of Article 39 of Law 8.213/1991 guarantees maternity pay equal to one minimum wage, paid by Social Security.

A special insured worker’s access to the benefit depends on proof that she actually engaged in rural activity and that she fit this category on the relevant date. Now that the waiting period has been eliminated, it is not appropriate to require twelve months of activity across the board as a current requirement for maternity pay. The waiver does not remove the review of special insured status or the need to document the activity.

In day-to-day practice, documents such as rural producer invoices, sharecropping contracts, union statements, and school or health records from rural areas often help show the activity. Whether this set of documents is enough depends on the circumstances of each case and on how well the documents submitted match the period the worker needs to prove.

Deadlines, adoption, and payment by the INSS

In adoption or court-ordered custody for the purpose of adoption, Article 71-A guarantees maternity pay for 120 days, paid directly by Social Security. On this point, the law treats adoption much like birth for purposes of the benefit.

Maternity pay can be requested within five years from the triggering event, under the INSS’s administrative rules. Article 71-D, which set a deadline of one hundred and eighty days in Provisional Measure (MP) 871/2019, was not converted into law and should not be presented as a rule currently in force. Keeping dates and documents organized makes it possible to confirm the applicable deadline without wrongly assuming the right has already been lost.

For insured women whose benefit is paid by Social Security, there has been a recent reinforcement. Article 73-A, added in 2026, requires that maternity pay paid directly by the INSS be granted within thirty days of the request; if the deadline is missed, the law provides for provisional, automatic approval, without prejudice to a later review of the legal requirements.

Requests from insured women served directly by Social Security are submitted to the INSS, which also makes the payment. The amount and the period depend on the category and the documents gathered, and it is the individual review of each situation that ultimately confirms the right to the benefit.

Differences in amount and precautions when applying

The categories converge on the 120-day period but diverge on the amount. Employees and casual port workers receive full pay; individual contributors, voluntary insured women, and individual microentrepreneurs receive the average of their most recent contributions; and special insured workers receive one minimum wage. This difference follows the way each group contributes and explains why benefits of the same length can reach different amounts.

One precaution common to all categories is keeping insured status at the time of the birth or adoption. Under Article 15 of Law 8.213/1991, this status is maintained, regardless of contributions, during the grace periods set out there. Checking your registration status before filing the request keeps a gap in contributions from undermining the review.

Documentation also deserves attention. Each category has its own evidence, from an employee’s pay stub to a special insured worker’s producer invoices. Organizing the documents ahead of time and observing the deadline that applies to the request improves the chance of a review without additional requests and of faster payment.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is entitled to maternity pay?

Insured employees, casual port workers, domestic employees, individual contributors, individual microentrepreneurs, voluntary insured women, and special insured workers are entitled to it. The benefit also covers adoption and custody for the purpose of adoption. All categories are exempt from the waiting period, but you must prove insured status. The monthly amount varies by category.

What is the waiting period for individual contributors and MEIs?

As a current rule, there is no requirement of ten contributions. Under INSS guidance, all categories are exempt from the waiting period, in compliance with ADIs 2.110 and 2.111 and Normative Instruction 188/2025. Insured status is still required, and the history of affiliation and payments must be checked.

Does a special insured worker have to make contributions to receive the benefit?

The minimum benefit for a special insured worker does not depend on monthly voluntary contributions. It requires proof of the activity and of special insured status on the relevant date. The old general requirement of twelve months of activity should not be applied as a current waiting period after the decisions of the STF (Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court) and the INSS’s regulations.

As informações deste artigo são de caráter informativo e não substituem consulta jurídica individualizada. Cada caso possui particularidades que exigem análise específica.