One of the perks as a government servant, is the fully-paid maternity leave. However, there's a catch. (There's always a catch, huh?) One can only take maximum 300 days of maternity leave throughout service. So, considering 2 months of maternity leave, the maximum no of kids you can have to be able to get full pay during your maternity leave is 5. Ok la kan... 5 considered big family dah tu.
I had my first kid in 1999. I was a student. So, basically, no maternity leave at all. In fact, as a postgraduate student, I was allocated only 2 weeks of leave every semester. However, with kind consideration from my supervisor at that time, dapat jugak la cuti.
Then I started working and had my second child. 60 days of maternity leave and I still have 240 days remaining.
3rd child - 60 days of leave again - 180 days remaining.
4th child - another 60 days taken from the bank - 120 days remaining.
Recently, the government decided to allow its servants to take maternity leave up to 90 days. But the catch is, the maximum total days remained 300. So, maximum no of kids reduced from 5 to 3 if someone fully use the 90 days allocation. Well, of course you can still opt for 60 days maternity leave. Pilih la, nak anak banyak ke nak cuti lama...:)
My timing was just perfect because I had my 5th kid soon after the government made the decision. Since I still have enough maternity leave remaining, dengan sukacitanya I took 90 days. Well, as of now, 1 month already gone. Time sure flies.
Doing simple maths, I still have 30 days remaining. Maybe just enough for another kid. Not!! :)