Maternity Benefit For Employee On Probation

Maternity Benefit for employee on Probation
Dear Seniors,
I would like to know, if maternity benefit could be given to employee on probabtion.
Actually one employee has joined us in Aug.09 and now she is asking for the maternity benefit, is she eligible for the maternity benefit as she is on probation period and she is supposed to take leave during Dec.-09.
According to Maternity benefit Act :- it says
A women shall be entitled to maternity benefit only if she has actually worked in an establishment of the employer for a period of not less then eighty days in the twelve months immediately proceeding the date of her expected delivery (section-5[2])
Now here it is mentioned 80 days in the 12 months.
Seniors , Pls. guide me
With regards
Deepmala

Deepmala;
The law says that employees who are in service for a minimum of 160 days on the date of commencement of leave would be eligible for the Maternity leave benefit.
it makes no distinction between the status of the employee; either as a probationer or as a confirmed employee.
but here the date of joining being Aug' 09. i dnt think she is eligible for the benefit.
Also the act specifies that the leave can be taken only for a period of 12 weeks.
i.e. six weeks prenatal and six weeks post natal

Hi Deepama,
Please refer the following points
Who is Entitled to Maternity Benefit
1. Every woman employee, whether employed directly or through a contractor, who has actually worked in the establishment for a period of at least 80 days during the 12 months immediately preceding the date of her expected delivery, is entitled to receive maternity benefit.
2. The qualifying period of 80 days shall not apply to a woman who has immigrated into the State of Assam and was pregnant at the time of immigration.
3. For calculating the number of days on which a woman has actually worked during the preceding 12 months, the days on which she has been laid off or was on holidays with wages shall also be counted.
4. There is neither a wage ceiling for coverage under the Act nor there is any restriction as regards the type of work a woman is engaged in.

Dear
As submitted by Deepmala now the eligibility condition is 80 days instead of 160 days as mentioned by you.Probationer is also entitled to have maternity benefit as per the definition of woman as shown at section 3(o) of this Act.

R.N.Khola

Thank you all for your prompt reply but my question is -the employee has not worked for 12 months, she has just completed 4 months and the Law says working period of not less then eighty days in the twelve months, which means that it is applicable to those who has worked at least for 12 months...
Pls. clarify my doubts...

She is eligible for maternity benefit because as you have stated she has worked for four months - 4*30 = 120 days and if she has worked for 80 days she is entitled for getting maternity benefit as per the act.

Dear Deepmala,
If suppose she has completed 80 physical working days so far From Aug -09 ( to say ) leave starts from 01st December- 09 then she is eligible as per the act!!!
Hope it is clear to you, ask in case of doubt!!!

As per the act she is eligible for Maternity Benefit further calrification please refere the act

Dear ,
Mr.Ravi shank was very much right... once i faced the same as like u the same ... we did the same as Mr.Ravi told ... so kindly go through the Employee Welfare and do the best ...

Dear Ravishank and others,
We may have different points of view- about what is right or wrong, but when someone has asked a specific query, its better to give a correct answer rather than giving an opinion; otherwise the thread unnecessarily turns into a debate.
You can always start another thread to discuss and debate matters.
Regards,
Shikha