National councilor Kathrin Bertschy (PVL/BE) is still in the news for maternity allowance. The Federal Court (TF) has once again ruled him wrong on the subject. She will have to repay part of the money she received.
What are we talking about? The elected official, who has been sitting in Berne since 2011, worked as a self-employed person and had a child at the end of 2018. She therefore received a maternity allowance. But she had participated in parliamentary sessions during her maternity leave in spring 2019. She had therefore lost her allowance.
The Bernoise appealed against this decision all the way to the Federal Court. In vain. He recalled in April 2022 that, according to the law on APG (benefits for loss of earnings), women are entitled to maternity allowance for 14 weeks after the birth of a child. A right which ends early if the mother returns to gainful activity. And the exercise of a mandate at National had been considered as such.
But Parliament accepted last fall that elected officials on maternity leave could participate in sessions without losing their right to their allowance. This provision came into force on July 1, 2024.
In the meantime, Kathrin Bertschy had another child. And she again took part in parliamentary sessions during her maternity leave, before the new provision came into force.
The compensation fund therefore required her to repay her allowances. What the Bernoise contested, again up to the TF. The elected official considered that the right to maternity allowance should only expire if the mother’s gainful activity provided her with an income greater than 2,300 francs during maternity leave.
But the TF has just rejected this new appeal. He recalled on Tuesday that the allowance cannot be received in the event of returning to work, “unless it is a very secondary activity generating a maximum income of 2,300 francs per year”. And not a maximum received during maternity leave only.
