Short answer. Yes. Section 2 of RA 8187 requires the male employee applying for paternity leave to notify his employer of the pregnancy of his legitimate spouse and the expected date of delivery. The notice lets the employer plan around your seven days of leave, and giving it is part of properly claiming the benefit.
What the law says
The male employee applying for paternity leave shall notify his employer of the pregnancy of his legitimate spouse and the expected date of such delivery.
RA 8187, Section 2 — Seven Days Paternity Leave. Read the full provision →
What the law says
every married male employee in the private and public sectors shall be entitled to a paternity leave of seven (7) days with full pay for the first four (4) deliveries of the legitimate spouse with whom he is cohabiting
RA 8187, Section 2 — Seven Days Paternity Leave. Read the full provision →
What the law says
For purposes of this Act, delivery shall include childbirth or any miscarriage.
RA 8187, Section 2 — Seven Days Paternity Leave. Read the full provision →
Yes — notice is required
Section 2 of Republic Act No. 8187 is explicit about notice. It states that The male employee applying for paternity leave shall notify his employer of the pregnancy of his legitimate spouse and the expected date of such delivery. Notifying the employer is therefore built into how you claim the leave — you tell your employer that your spouse is pregnant and when the delivery is expected. This gives the workplace time to arrange coverage for your absence, and it puts the employer on notice that a paid statutory leave is coming, rather than leaving an unexplained gap in your attendance.
What the leave gives you
The benefit itself is generous but bounded. The section provides that every married male employee in the private and public sectors shall be entitled to a paternity leave of seven (7) days with full pay for the first four (4) deliveries of the legitimate spouse with whom he is cohabiting. Read the conditions carefully: the employee must be married, the spouse must be his legitimate spouse with whom he is cohabiting, and the entitlement runs only for the first four deliveries. It applies in both the private and public sectors, and the seven days come with full pay, so a covered father loses no salary for that week.
Miscarriage counts as a delivery
The law defines its own key term, so there is no doubt. It says that For purposes of this Act, delivery shall include childbirth or any miscarriage. This matters: a father is not entitled only when a child is born healthy. A miscarriage is also a covered event, recognising that a spouse who suffers pregnancy loss needs her husband's presence and support just as much. So the seven-day leave can be claimed for a miscarriage, within the first four deliveries, on the same terms as a live birth.
The edges of the benefit
Because the section sets clear conditions, it also marks who falls outside it. A worker who is not married, or who is not cohabiting with the legitimate spouse, does not fit the wording, and the entitlement stops after the fourth delivery. The provision fixes the leave at seven days with full pay — it is not an open-ended absence, and it is separate from other family-related leaves an employee may hold under different laws. Meeting the stated conditions, and giving the required notice, is what secures it.