Dear Ms Gracy
First of all please check whether the establishment in which you are employed is in an area which is notified under the ESI Act for coverage under the ESI Act. It may be that the establishment is covered by the ESI Act but the employer is not recovering the ESI contribution from you and also not remitting his contribution under the ESI Act. In such a circumstances you need not worry because, right from day one when an employee to whom the ESI Act is applicable joins an establishment to which the ESI Act is applicable he/she is covered by the ESI Act even though the employer had not recovered her contribution and also not remitted his contribution. Worse still he might not have registered the employee with the ESI. In all such cases the employee is covered by the provisions of the ESI Act and is entitled to get the benefits of the ESI Scheme. To get the benefits of the ESI Act the employee should be an insured worker and an insured worker is one in respect of whom contribution under the ESI Act has been paid or is payable. Further the ESI Act prescribes some length of service in the establishment to get the maternity benefit under this Act. This aspect also has to be checked. If the ESI Act is not applciable to the establishment in which you are employed then the Maternity Benefit Act is applicable. The MB Act is applicable to factories, mines, plantations and shops and establishments in which ten or more persons are employed or were employed on any day of the preceding ten months. Your post does not indicate the nature of the establishment in which you are employed and also the number of persons employed therein. Therefore I am not able to say definitely whether the MB Act is applicable to the establishment in which you are employed. If you could furnish the details of the nature of work done in the establishment as also the number of persons employed and if the number of persons employed is less than ten whether ten persons were employed on any day during the preceding twelve calendar months, then I may be able to offer my views on the issue.
With regards