Paternity Leave Philippines: 7-Day Rules and Pay for Employers

By Robin Salvador, co-founder, Caffeine Brothers
Last updated: November 8, 2026

Quick answer: Under Republic Act 8187, a married male employee in the Philippines gets seven days of paternity leave with full pay for each of the first four deliveries of his lawful wife, including miscarriage. He must be living with his wife and must notify his employer of the pregnancy. The employer pays his basic salary for those days, and unused leave cannot be converted to cash. Under RA 11210 the mother can also give the father up to seven days of her maternity leave, married or not, so a married father can have up to 14 paid days for one birth.

Paternity leave is one of the smaller statutory benefits, and in a café with a crew of six it still means a week of shift cover. This guide reads RA 8187, its implementing rules for the private sector, RA 11210 and DOLE’s 2023 Handbook on Workers’ Statutory Monetary Benefits, then works out the cost at 2026 pay levels. It pairs with our guides to maternity leave, service incentive leave and 13th month pay.

What does the paternity leave law say?

Section 2 of RA 8187, the Paternity Leave Act of 1996, says every married male employee in the private and public sectors “shall be entitled to a paternity leave of seven (7) days with full pay for the first four (4) deliveries of the legitimate spouse with whom he is cohabiting.” The same section says delivery “shall include childbirth or any miscarriage.”

Section 3 defines paternity leave as permission not to report for work for seven days while he continues to earn his pay, so he can support his wife during recovery or help nurse the newborn. The revised rules for the private sector, issued by DOLE and DOH and effective July 5, 1996, fill in the details below.

Two points trip up small employers. The first is the emergency leave trap. The rules say a company emergency or contingency leave that does not mention paternity does not replace it, so RA 8187 applies in full. The second is the cash question. If a new father skips the leave, he cannot ask for its cash value later. That is different from service incentive leave, which is converted to cash at year end.

Who qualifies for paternity leave?

The private-sector rules list four conditions. He must be an employee when the child is delivered. He must be cohabiting with his wife when she gives birth or suffers a miscarriage. He must have applied with his employer within a reasonable time before the expected delivery date, unless it was a miscarriage. And his wife must have given birth or miscarried.

The rules define the spouse as “a woman who is legally married to the male employee.” That leaves out live-in partners. The Philippine Commission on Women’s FAQ on RA 11210 says the same thing in plain terms: paternity leave may only be availed if the father is married to the child’s mother. Unmarried fathers have a different route, explained in the next section.

There is no minimum length of service in RA 8187 or its rules. A probationary barista who started last month qualifies the same way as a ten-year cashier. Small businesses get no exemption either. The compliance guide in DOLE’s handbook marks paternity leave as applying even to retail and service businesses with 1 to 5 workers. Service incentive leave and holiday pay are marked not applicable to those small workplaces.

How does the 7-day maternity allocation work?

Section 6 of RA 11210, the 105-Day Expanded Maternity Leave Law, lets a mother “allocate up to seven (7) days of said benefits to the child’s father, whether or not the same is married to the female worker.” The law says this allocation is over and above RA 8187. If the father is dead, absent or incapacitated, she can allocate the days to a relative within the fourth degree of consanguinity or to her current partner who shares the household.

The RA 11210 implementing rules (Rule VIII) set the mechanics. SSS pays the mother the maternity benefit for the days she did not allocate. The father or caregiver “shall be granted by his employer a leave with pay” of one to seven days, which he can take continuously or on separate days, but not later than the end of her maternity leave. The mother tells her employer with her maternity leave application, and the father tells his employer which days he will take. The allocation does not apply after a miscarriage or emergency termination of pregnancy.

The rules do not say whether the father’s employer can recover that pay from SSS. If your crew member asks for allocated leave, ask SSS how the allocated days are paid before you run payroll.

How much does 7 days of paternity leave cost an employer?

Because the rules define full pay as basic salary, the cost is seven days of the employee’s basic daily rate. Wage Order NCR-28, effective September 26, 2026, set the Metro Manila minimum at ₱755 a day for non-agriculture and ₱718 for retail and service businesses with 15 or fewer workers, according to GMA News. For monthly-paid staff, the DOLE handbook converts monthly pay to a daily rate with a factor of 313 days (six-day week) or 261 days (five-day week).

For a monthly-paid employee, the seven days are already inside his monthly salary, so the real cost is the cover for his shifts. For a daily-paid crew member, it is the amount in the table plus whatever you pay the person covering. The handbook says the 13th month pay base is basic salary, and the RA 8187 rules call paternity pay basic salary, though neither source says outright that paternity days count toward 13th month. See our 13th month pay guide for how the base is computed.

Will paternity leave become longer?

Several bills in the 20th Congress would extend it. We read the bill texts on the House website. All six below were filed in 2026 and none had reached a committee report or floor vote in the sources we found.

DZRH reported on June 19, 2026 that under the Diokno bill, employers would advance the pay and SSS would reimburse it in full, which would change who carries the cost. Until a bill becomes law, the seven days in RA 8187 is the rule, and an employer who gives more does so by company policy.

How do other leaves compare?

A new father can stack these where he qualifies. A married father who is also a registered solo parent for an older child, for example, keeps his solo parent leave for that child. Service incentive leave can be used any time and is separate from paternity leave.

A six-step process for handling a paternity leave request

1. Put the rule in your handbook. State seven days with full pay, the four-delivery limit, and how far ahead staff should tell you about the expected delivery date.
2. Set the paperwork in company rules. The law requires notice of the pregnancy and expected delivery date. Spell out in your rules what proof of marriage and delivery you will accept, so every request is handled the same way.
3. Count deliveries. Keep a record of how many times each employee has used the leave, since only the first four deliveries count.
4. Plan cover early. The leave is taken after delivery, and births rarely keep to schedule. Line up shift swaps a few weeks ahead.
5. Pay basic salary on the normal payday. Use the daily rate the employee would have earned. Don’t deduct the days from vacation or sick leave credits.
6. Handle allocated days separately. If the mother allocated maternity days to him, record them as RA 11210 leave so his RA 8187 days stay intact, and confirm the funding with SSS.

This guide summarizes the laws and is not legal advice. For a specific case, ask your DOLE field office or a labor lawyer.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. Republic Act No. 8187, Paternity Leave Act of 1996. LawPhil. Approved June 11, 1996. Sections 2, 3 and 5 (seven days, four deliveries, cohabiting, notice, penalty)
2. Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 8187 for the Private Sector. DOLE and DOH, effective July 5, 1996 (Chan Robles copy). Definitions, conditions, application, pay, non-conversion, crediting of company benefits
3. Republic Act No. 11210, 105-Day Expanded Maternity Leave Law. LawPhil. Approved February 20, 2019. Section 6 allocation of up to seven days
4. Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 11210. LawPhil. Rule VIII on allocation, payment and notice
5. FAQs on the Expanded Maternity Leave Law. Philippine Commission on Women. Allocation versus paternity leave; married fathers only for RA 8187
6. Handbook on Workers’ Statutory Monetary Benefits, 2023 Edition. DOLE Bureau of Working Conditions (Labor Law PH copy). Paternity leave pp. 31 to 33, coverage by employment status, 313 and 261 factors, 13th month base
7. Republic Act No. 11861, Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Act. LawPhil. Approved June 4, 2022. Seven working days of parental leave after six months of service
8. Republic Act No. 9262. LawPhil. Approved March 8, 2004. Section 43, ten days of paid leave
9. Labor Code of the Philippines (PD 442). LawPhil. Article 95, service incentive leave
10. House Bill No. 9891, Paternity and Parental Leave Act. House of Representatives, June 17, 2026. 90 days for live birth, 60 for miscarriage, 15 days parental leave
11. House Bill No. 7247. House of Representatives, January 26, 2026. 15 working days
12. House Bill No. 8271. House of Representatives, March 4, 2026. 20 days
13. House Bill No. 9932. House of Representatives, June 24, 2026. 15 working days
14. House Bill No. 10083. House of Representatives, July 15, 2026. 30 working days
15. House Bill No. 10965. House of Representatives, August 25, 2026. 30 working days
16. Diokno files bill seeking 105-day paternity leave under new parental leave bill. DZRH, June 19, 2026. Proposed SSS reimbursement under HB 9891
17. DOLE: P60 wage hike in NCR takes effect Sept. 26. GMA News, Sept 26, 2026. ₱755 and ₱718 NCR minimum wages under Wage Order NCR-28

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