Maternity Leave, Extended Leave, and Returning to Work in Argentina

You get 90 days of maternity leave, paid by ANSES, not by your employer (Art. 177 LCT). When it ends, you choose between returning to work, requesting extended leave, or rescinding your contract for reduced compensation (Art. 183 LCT). If you're dismissed while on leave or upon returning, the law presumes it was due to your maternity and you're entitled to an aggravated severance equal to one year's salary (Art. 178 LCT).

1. Maternity Leave Duration and Who Pays You

Leave lasts 90 days total: 45 before the expected birth date and 45 after (Art. 177 LCT). You can choose to shorten the pre-birth stretch to a minimum of 10 days; the rest is added to the post-birth rest period, so you never lose any days from the total. If the birth is premature, all the leave you didn't get to use beforehand is added afterward, still completing the full 90 days.

To activate the leave, you must notify your employer of your pregnancy in a verifiable way, with a medical certificate stating the expected birth date. From that moment on — not before — the law grants you job stability as a vested right: your employer cannot validly dismiss you while the pregnancy and leave last.

A separate right that continues once you're back at work: breastfeeding breaks (Art. 179 LCT). You get two half-hour breaks per day, within your workday, to breastfeed, during your baby's first year — longer if a medical reason justifies it. If your employer has the minimum number of female employees set by regulation, they must also provide a nursing room or daycare.

Who pays you: not your employer, ANSES

During those 90 days, you don't receive a salary from your employer. You receive the maternity allowance, a social security benefit (Art. 11, Law 24,714) administered by ANSES, equal to 100% of your usual pay. Unlike other family allowances, it has no cap based on how much you earn: it's calculated on your real salary.

To receive it, you need a minimum of 3 months of continuous seniority in the job (Law 24,714). That requirement is different — and much shorter — than the one year of seniority required to request extended leave or rescind your contract upon return, which we cover next.

2. Your 3 Options When You Return from Leave

When the 90 days end, the law gives you three paths to choose from (Art. 183 LCT). None is automatic: you have to decide, and if you choose extended leave, notify your employer in time.

The most common trap: the tacit option

If you don't notify your employer of anything, the law does not assume you're coming back. Art. 186 LCT establishes that, if you don't communicate at least 48 hours before your leave ends that you're taking extended leave, you are treated as having chosen to rescind for the reduced compensation under subsection b). You lose your job without any dismissal taking place, and you receive far less than if you had been dismissed.

If you choose extended leave: how reinstatement works

When the period you chose ends, your employer must reinstate you in the same category you held at the time of the birth, or in a different position — higher or lower — but only if you agree (Art. 184 LCT). If you're not taken back, you're owed full severance as if unfairly dismissed, unless the employer proves reinstatement was genuinely impossible: in that case, only the reduced compensation under subsection b) is owed.

One important detail: if you sign a contract with another employer while on extended leave, you automatically lose the right to return to your previous position.

These same options — rescinding for reduced compensation or requesting extended leave — are also available later, with the same scope, if you need to care for a sick child under your responsibility. The law gives you the same tool beyond childbirth itself.

3. If You're Dismissed While on Leave or Upon Returning

Everything above assumes you're the one deciding. This section is different: it's your employer dismissing you, without you having requested anything.

Art. 178 LCT establishes a presumption: if you're dismissed within 7.5 months before or after the birth date, the law presumes the dismissal was due to your maternity, unless the employer proves otherwise. That presumption covers both a dismissal while you're on leave and one right after you return to work, as long as that period is still running.

The condition for it to protect you: you must have notified and proven the pregnancy — and, where applicable, the birth — in a verifiable way. That's why the notification covered in the first section is not a minor formality.

If the presumption applies, you're entitled to an aggravated severance equal to one year of pay (Art. 182 LCT) — in practice, around 13 monthly salaries, adding the proportional holiday bonus — which is added on top of, not instead of, the standard seniority severance, notice pay, and month integration.

If you were dismissed and you're still within that window, the full detail on how this aggravated severance is calculated and claimed is in our guide on pregnancy dismissal and the aggravated severance.

4. Common Mistakes When Taking or Returning from Leave

Frequently Asked Questions About Leave and Returning to Work