Many Brazilian private sector employees will have maternity leave of up to six months starting from Monday if their employers join the program "Citizen Company."

Accession to the program is voluntary and depends on negotiations with their employees. So far, the benefit has been only for public service workers, and the maximum period in the private sector is four months.

According to specialists, breastfeeding during the baby's first six months of life allows better nutrition and also promotes the prevention of diseases.

The government said that companies interested in joining the program would pay the wages of the first four months of maternity leave, but would receive compensation from the National Social Security Institute, with the last two months to be deducted from income tax.

The rule applies only to the 150,000 largest enterprises in Brazil, which employ 50 percent of the workers. Smaller businesses participate in the simplified system of taxation.

(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2010)