Navigating Appraisals During Maternity Leave: Seeking Guidance and Legal Clarity

Hello Seniors, I have a maternity case in our organization. The employee will be on maternity leave from 15th Jan. We have six monthly appraisals, and her appraisal is in the month of Feb. Seniors, please guide me on how I can handle this situation.

Query on the Applicability of the Maternity Act

One more query on the applicability of the Maternity Act: Is it compulsory to have at least 10 female employees to apply this Act?

Thanks in advance.

You have to appraise the employee's performance for the time they worked; hence, it is better to complete the appraisal process of the concerned employee before January 15th. For the applicability of the Maternity Benefit Act, there is no rule of 10 female employees. Hence, if the employee is not covered under ESI, then the management needs to extend the benefit to the employee under the Maternity Benefit Act.

Regards,
Kamesh

Thanks, Kamesh, for your prompt reply. I am not able to understand the sentence "if the employee is not covered under ESI, then the management needs to extend the benefit to the employee under the Maternity Benefit Act." Our employee is not covered under the ESI Act.

Dear Manohar, If the employee is a confirmed employee, she is eligible for the appraisal, which can be done using regular procedures. If the number of employees is 20 or more and the gross salary is less than 15k, they will be covered under the ESI Act, where they can receive maximum medical benefits. I hope this is clear for you.

Thanks & Regards, Meenakshi.

You can assess her performance for the period worked until her last working day. You have to extend the maternity benefit if she does not come under the applicability of the provisions of ESI. Some situations cannot be avoided; you can make decisions on humanitarian grounds. Before her last working day, if her performance up to the work is satisfactory, you can take that into consideration.

Regards,

If your organization is not covered under ESIC, then the employer has to pay maternity benefits for 84 days (six weeks before and six weeks after) along with a medical bonus for the delivery case.

Regards,
Rahul Bagale
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