Forced Resignation During Pregnancy

Hi All,
M working in a pvt. Ltd. Company from last 8 years. Now my company is going to shut down. And the company is taking resignation letter from the employee, giving three months CTC. And threatening the employees to resign otherwise they will terminate the employee. In my case I am pregnant. And I refused to resign and told them to give me 6 months compensation for my pregnancy. But they refused and forced me to resign. I resigned bcoz I was stressed. Now, can I file a case against the company for forced resignation?? And is there any chance to get compensation for my pregnancy duration coz I cannot get any job in the market due to pregnancy??

In today's era, an employer is misconceived if he thinks that he can avoid paying maternity benefits admissible under the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. The Act clearly provides authorities under the Act who can enforce payment of benefits under the Act. All an aggrieved woman has to do is make a representation to inspector appointed under the Act for drawal of benefits admissible under the Act. An employer cannot dismiss or discharge a pregnant woman merely because of her absence under section 12 of the Act and if he does so he can be prosecuted and criminal court can punish him for imprisonment of not less than three months under section 21 of the Act. Pl refer to Municipal corporation of Delhi case decided by the Apex court in 2000 in this regard.Even if one finds laxity on the part of inspector to get the dues, file an application under RTI Act, 2005 before CPIO of the labor department seeking information about the status of representation given by her and what steps were taken by him on it and as regards lodging of criminal prosecution against erring employer or manager. It may be informed that under section 2(f) of the RTI Act information can be obtained from a private body if information can be accessed by a public authority. Since inspector is a public authority, and is duty bound under the Act to ensure compliance of the provisions under the Act, he can access to information from private employer and so aggrieved woman can obtain information from him about the status of payment of maternity benefits to her and unfortunately employer has dismissed or terminated her what steps inspector has taken to get nullified it.

Dear Manishi48,
Now you can not do any thing for forced resignation. Also what evidece you have to prove the forced resignation?
My advise to you is, you now be happy yourself for your child to come in this wonderful world. Treat whatever has happened is good for you, good for your child. GOD has some better plans for you. Enjoy your motherhood. Wish you all the best.

Dear Sushilkluthra,
Thank you so much for your contribution with case law. However, the given case is not of dismissal or termination but it is a resignation. And it is very difficult to prove now that the said resignation is forcibly taken.
We should academically discuss whether there is a chance to prove that the resignation was taken forcibly.

Two remedies are available to the aggrieved woman. If she was a workman then her forced resignation is covered under " otherwise terminates" of section 2A of the ID Act and challenge before labor court. Otherwise challenge before civil court on the ground of coercion. Besides she cannot be denied maternity benefits admissible to which have to be paid in advance also to some extent. It may be remembered that no one serves in such disputes on your platter. Everything is decided on the basis of evidence.

What is your designation. What is your company producing. Is it covered under Factories Act. Is there any workers union.

When the company is going to be locked out it is more important to see if the formalities connected with the closure of establishment as per section 25 FF of the Industrial Disputes Act are followed. If your establishment has not been employing more than 100 employees during the last 12 months, naturally, they can close down the operations just by informing the employees of the closure 2 months before such closure, marking a copy to the Labour Officer, and paying retrenchment compensation as per section 25F which will be equal to 15 days pay for each year of service. In case you have less than 50 employees, intimation to Labour department is also not required but only a report of closure would be sufficient.

The Maternity Benefits Act does not prohibit closure of establishment due to the reason that the establishment has a preganant employee. Therefore, in the context of closure, I don’t find any merit in your demand for 6 months salary as compensation. At the same time your demand for payment of 4 months’ salary as retrenchment compensation (calculated at the rate of 15 days salary for every completed year of service) and 2 months notice or salary for 2 months in lieu of notice will be justified.

Madhu.T.K

It may be remembered that liability of employer for damages due to illegal deemed termination, accrued in favor of aggrieved woman, cannot be curtailed merely because of future closure of company because cause of action had already arisen. Similarly dues admissible under maternity benefit Act cannot be denied because of later closure of company. I am trying to know her designation to see whether she is covered under ID Act.

Hello Mr. Sushil,
My company is a CRO (contract research organization). Its a clinical research organisation and my designation is Sr. Research officer.

Though apparently your organization falls under ID Act but you not appear to be a workman. So you are out of purview of this Act.Thus the remedy of filing suit for declaration and recovery of damages and consequential recovery maternity benefits may be recovered through civil court.