May 15, Minsk /BELTA/. A mechanism for suspending the activities of individual entrepreneurs (IEs) during the period of childcare for a child under 3 years of age has been developed in Belarus. This was announced to journalists today by Marina Artyomenko, Deputy Head of the Department of Population, Gender and Family Policy of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
"A draft normative legal act has been developed that regulates the procedure for suspending the activities of individual entrepreneurs and certain other categories of persons during the period of childcare for a child under 3 years of age. Currently, there is no such mechanism at the legislative level. The document is under consideration by the government," said Marina Artyomenko.
The need to develop such a document was driven by the fact that since January 1, 2013, a norm has been introduced in the country whereby individual entrepreneurs, as well as notaries, lawyers, and craftspeople, are paid 50% of the childcare allowance for a child under 3 years of age. "This was due to the need for a unified approach to women employed under labour contracts. If a woman returns to work for more than half a full-time position, she is entitled to 50% of the allowance. The same approach was applied to those categories of persons who independently organise their employment but do not work under labour contracts and do not have employers," explained Marina Artyomenko.-0-