Seeking Feedback on My First Leave Policy: Maternity Leave Questions Included

Hi Gurus,

I have framed a leave policy for my company. I want your feedback on the same since I have done it for the first time without any senior guidance. Also, I have doubts about maternity leave. How many months of service should the employee have completed to avail maternity leave? And is it necessary to pay the salary before the employee goes on ML?

Please help.

Regards, Neeta.
M: 9892754905.

Hi!

The policy seems to be good, but you missed out on the following:

1. Types of leaves i.e., sick leave, maternity leave, etc.
2. Eligibility and Applicability of leaves - i.e., to probationary employees, trainees, and employees on the payrolls.

In my opinion, an employee should serve a minimum of 3 months to avail maternity leave and benefits. Salary could be issued on the date of disbursement of salaries to employees, and no special consideration is required unless requested. i.e., You need not pay before they go on leave. It could be credited to their account when it is done for all employees.

Hope I communicated and answered your query.

Regards, Vasudha.

Hi,

Thank you so much for your feedback. As you mentioned, sick leave is not included. The reason is that I wanted to make the policy simpler. I believe this is the trend followed internationally - to combine all types of leave. In our old policy, only 14 leaves were given to employees, so I think they will be happy about the increased number. I am going to add maternity leave too. I held off on this because I had some doubts, which you have now cleared.

I have newly joined this company, and there are employees who have completed over 6 months of the probation period but have not been confirmed. In this case, how should I consider the difference between confirmed employees and those not confirmed when giving leaves? In such a scenario, to avoid confusion, I thought it would be better to have leaves from the Date of Joining itself. Please provide your views.

Regards, Neeta
M - 9892754905

Hi Neeta, Vasudha,

One thing I'd like to point out is that I believe maternity leave can be granted only if the female employee is not pregnant at the time of joining the organization (which typically means around 9 months).

Please cross-check this information. If I am mistaken, kindly correct me as I am not very familiar with personnel matters.

Tania

Hi Tania, Vasundha,

This is Ali.

Condition of Eligibility

As per the Maternity Benefit Act 1961, women engaging temporarily are eligible for maternity benefits when she is expecting a child and has worked for her employer for 80 days in the 12 months immediately preceding the date of her expected delivery.

Coverage

All women employees, either employed directly or through contractors, except domestic women employees employed in mines, factories, plantations, and other establishments if the state government decides to apply this Act to women employees in shops and commercial establishments, will also benefit from this act. Presently, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana, WB, UP, AP, and Orrisa have done so.

Condition for claiming Benefits

Ten weeks before the date of her expected delivery, she may ask the employer to give her light work for a month. At that time, she should produce a certificate that she is pregnant.

She should give written notice to the employer about seven weeks before the date of her delivery that she will be absent for six weeks before and after her delivery. She should also name the person to whom payment will be made in case she cannot take it herself.

She should take the payment for the first six weeks before she goes on leave.

She will get payment for the six weeks after childbirth within 48 hours of providing proof that she has had a child.

She will be entitled to two nursing breaks of fifteen minutes each in the course of her daily work until her child is fifteen months old.

Her employer cannot discharge her or change her conditions of service while she is on maternity leave.

Exception: Women dismissed for gross misconduct lose their right under the Act for Maternity Benefit.

Leaves for Miscarriage & Tubectomy Operation

Leave with wages at the rate of maternity benefit for a period of six weeks immediately following the day of her miscarriage or her medical termination of pregnancy.

Entitled to leave with wages at the rate of maternity benefit for a period of two weeks immediately following the day of her tubectomy operation.

Hope you have cleared the matter now.

Regards,

Ali

Hi, you can add maternity leave applicable to female employees as per the Maternity Act of 1962, which will give meaning to the leave policy.

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Hi,

You can add maternity leave applicable to female employees as per the Maternity Act of 1962, which will give meaning to the leave policy.

Hi Ali,

Thank you for the information. It really enlightened me. Although I might not be directly involved in personnel work, it is essential for me to have a detailed understanding of this being in HR.

Thanks a ton,
Tania

Hi,

The leaves can be segregated into:

- Casual Leaves: applicable to everyone (it can be encashable or not, depending on the company policy).
- Sick Leaves: applicable to everyone.
- Privilege Leaves: for confirmed employees.

The following points should be very clearly mentioned for every type of leave:

- Holidays exclusive/inclusive.
- Encashable or not.
- Leave credited quarterly/monthly.
- Advance credit of the leaves, which is generally done in exceptional circumstances and depends on the company policy.
- Whether leaves can be combined or not. Generally, Privilege Leave cannot be combined with any other type of leaves.

Regards,
Gunjan

Sorry to interrupt, but I think you guys have diverted from my leave policy. As mentioned by Vasudha, sick leave is not included. The reason is that I wanted to make the policy simpler. I believe that's the trend followed internationally, also to club all the leaves together. As per our old policy, only 14 leaves were given to employees, so I think they will be happy about the increased number. I have included maternity leave and attached the new policy.

I have newly joined this company, and we are only 20 at this point. There are employees who have completed over 6 months of the probation period, but no confirmation has been given to them. So, in this case, how should I consider the difference in confirmed employees and unconfirmed employees while giving leaves? Now, in such a scenario, to avoid confusion, I thought it would be better to have leaves from the Date of Joining (DOJ).

Please give your views.

Regards,
Neeta.