Maternity leave in Colombia: what the employer pays and what the EPS reimburses

When an employee in Colombia announces a pregnancy, a foreign company faces three questions at once: how long the absence lasts, how much it pays from its own cash and what it recovers afterwards from the health system. A fourth is often forgotten, which is who covers the role and when a contract can lawfully end during the protected period.

At Soulbit Academy we look at maternity leave from the employer's side: the weeks in force in 2026, who pays, what the EPS requires, what job protection covers and how it shows up in the cash flow of a company with Colombian staff. It is the companion to paternity leave in Colombia, whose reimbursement mechanics we summarize here instead of repeating.

Maternity leave in Colombia: 18 weeks and what they include

Maternity leave in Colombia lasts 18 paid weeks, paid at the salary the employee earns when the leave starts. The legal basis is article 236 of the Labor Code, amended by Law 1822 of 2017. We found no later extension, so the 18 weeks also apply in 2026.

The law covers four situations that payroll must tell apart. The first is pre-birth leave: the week before the probable delivery date is mandatory, unless the treating doctor prescribes otherwise. The second is an extra pre-birth week for medical reasons, which allows two weeks before birth and 16 after. The third is a premature birth, where the gap between gestational age and full term is added to the 18 weeks. The fourth is a multiple birth, which adds two weeks.

For premature and multiple births the law requires a certificate from the treating doctor identifying the gap between gestational age and full term, attached to the live-birth certificate. The employer should file it with the leave certificate, because it decides how many weeks are paid.

Did the 2025 labor reform change the weeks of maternity leave?

We found no sign that Law 2466 of 2025 changed the length of maternity leave. The reform touched working hours, surcharges and contract types, not the 18-week regime. If your company has already applied those changes, review the rest in our employer checklist for the Colombian labor reform.

Who pays maternity leave in Colombia: the EPS recognizes, the employer fronts

Maternity leave is recognized by the EPS as an economic benefit of the health system, and the employer does not pay it from its own budget. The company does keep the employment relationship and the payroll calendar, so it normally keeps paying the salary and then asks the EPS for reimbursement.

The mechanics match paternity leave, which we cover in detail in the companion article. In short: the company pays, the EPS recognizes based on contributions and the employer reconciles the reimbursement against the advance. The current process is set out in Decree 2126 of 2023, which replaced chapters 1 to 4 of the economic benefits title in Decree 780 of 2016. What changes is scale: 18 weeks are nine times the two weeks of paternity leave, and the advance grows in the same proportion.

How long does the EPS have to pay the employer?

Under article 2.2.3.4.3 of Decree 780 of 2016, as replaced by Decree 2126 of 2023, the EPS reviews and settles the claim within 15 business days and pays within the following five business days. If it misses these terms it owes late-payment interest and the employer can go to the national health superintendency. The claim includes the leave certificate, the child's civil registry, a payment request and a recent bank certificate. The employer cannot deduct the leave from health contributions.

Those periods begin when the claim is submitted to the EPS. Check its form and supporting-document requirements before filing.

Contribution requirements for the EPS to recognize maternity leave

The EPS recognizes maternity leave when the employee was enrolled and active at birth, contributed during the pregnancy months, including the month in which leave begins, and presents a valid leave certificate. Decree 2126 of 2023 counts only contributions from the relevant payer that correspond to the pregnancy period.

If the employee contributed for less than the full pregnancy, payment is proportional: contributed days divided by pregnancy days, multiplied by leave days. Settlement uses the contribution base reported on the first day of the leave. Table 1 shows how the employer's position changes. The cases are illustrative and must be confirmed with the EPS.

Employee situation	What the EPS recognizes	Effect for the employer
Contributed all pregnancy and PILA is current	The full value of the 18 weeks	Recovers the advanced salary if it files the claim
Contributed for part of the pregnancy	A value proportional to contributed days	Must decide with advice how to treat the gap
Contributed on a base below real pay	A value based on what was contributed	Receives less than it pays and risks a UGPP audit
Contributions from different employers during pregnancy	Only those from the relevant payer and period are considered	Reconcile days and contribution bases by payer before filing

Proportionality ties leave to the quality of PILA. A badly set contribution base lowers what the EPS recognizes and exposes the company to UGPP scrutiny. Article 178 of Law 1607 of 2012 allows proceedings to start within five years of the filing deadline. The monthly mechanics are explained in PILA social security contributions in Colombia: an employer guide.

Colombia maternity job protection: reinforced stability and dismissal

Colombian job protection bars an employer from dismissing a worker because of pregnancy or breastfeeding and covers the pregnancy plus the 18 weeks after birth. Law 2141 of 2021 amended articles 239 and 240 of the Labor Code and presumes that a dismissal in that period is due to pregnancy or breastfeeding.

To end a contract for just cause in the protected period, the employer needs prior authorization from the labor inspector or, where there is none, the municipal mayor. Without it the worker is entitled to an indemnity of 60 days of work, on top of other amounts due. The same law extends protection and indemnity to a worker whose spouse or partner is pregnant, provided she has no formal employment.

Can an employer let a fixed-term contract of a pregnant employee expire?

A Colombian company should not simply let a pregnant employee's fixed-term contract lapse, because the presumption and the prior-authorization rule may also apply to non-renewal. Before communicating any decision on a pregnant employee, request the authorization or document an objective cause. The cost of getting it wrong follows the logic of any dismissal without just cause, covered in severance and unfair dismissal in Colombia.

Shared and flexible parental leave: how planning changes

Law 2114 of 2021 created two options that reshape the absence calendar: shared parental leave and flexible part-time leave. Both are agreed between the employee and her partner and change who is absent and when.

Under shared leave, the last six weeks of the mother's leave can be split between mother and father by agreement, counted from the birth date. The first weeks after birth cannot be transferred, and the father's own leave cannot be cut by using this option. Under flexible part-time leave, the mother or father swaps a leave period for half-time work lasting twice as long. The mother cannot use it before week 13 of her leave. Each period is paid on the salary of the person taking it.

Table 2 compares what each option means for the employer.

Option	What happens	What the employer must plan
Ordinary leave	The mother is absent for 18 straight weeks	One continuous replacement and a single advance
Shared leave	Up to six weeks move to the father by agreement	Two absences at different times and two salary bases
Flexible part-time leave	A period is swapped for half-time of double length	Longer partial cover and payment control by period

Shared or flexible leave adds administrative work: each period has its own certificate, PILA entry and calculation, based on the salary of whoever takes the leave. Agree the dates in writing with the employee and keep that record in her file.

Cash and replacement: an example with assumptions

The cash effect of maternity leave is the gap between the salary the company pays each month and the reimbursement the EPS delivers later. The case below is hypothetical, uses labeled assumptions and does not represent Soulbit prices or results.

Assumptions: an employee with a monthly salary of COP 4,000,000, 18 weeks of leave (126 days) and a daily value of salary divided by 30. The daily value is COP 133,333 and 18 weeks total COP 16,800,000. In an alternative case where she contributed 36 of 40 pregnancy weeks, the ratio would be 90 percent: COP 15,120,000, leaving a gap of COP 1,680,000 that the company must treat according to its advice.

At the minimum wage the figure is smaller. The decree that set the 2026 monthly minimum at COP 1,750,905, Decree 1469 of 2025, gives COP 7,353,801 for 18 weeks. If, as an assumption, the company files immediately and the EPS authorizes and pays within the 15 plus five business days set by Decree 2126 of 2023, the financed advance is roughly one month of salary per leave in progress.

Two costs are not reimbursed. The first is the temporary replacement, whose salary and benefits come from the company budget. The second is handover and training time. To budget the replacement, use the full employment cost described in how to pay payroll in Colombia.

How can a company keep leave advances from straining its treasury?

Set aside a monthly amount for advances that the EPS reimburses and reconcile them as a separate receivable, labeled with the employee's name and period. Finance can then tell a recoverable advance from a final expense. Report the leave entry in the PILA of the period and keep the certificate, payroll form, settlement and reimbursement proof in one file.

What Soulbit's V1 delivers and what it does not

Soulbit Salaries is the planned module for disbursing payroll, not a leave settlement system. The V1 covers balances in USDC and USDT, local payment disbursement in Colombian pesos and US dollars, recurring and batch payments, employee accounts, institutional custody, KYB and AML/KYT monitoring.

What Soulbit does not do matters here. It does not calculate the value of a leave, settle PILA, determine the contribution base or file claims with the EPS. It does not replace the accountant or the payroll software either. That responsibility stays with the company or its provider.

Its role begins after the calculation. Once payroll has determined the net salary for each leave period, that payment can be included in the batch disbursement, as explained in batch payroll: from file to disbursement. This does not change the company's labor or social security obligations.