Maternity Leave Deductions: Are PF, ESIC, and PT Still Taken from Salaries?

Dear all, when women employees are on maternity leave, are statutory payments such as PF, ESIC, and PT deducted from their salaries?

When a member is on maternity leave, you should not deduct any salary for that period. In this case, you are also not required to deduct PF & ESI as they are statutory dues.

Regards,
D. D. Narasimhan

I think the question is related to Maternity Benefit Payment. The ESI, EPF, P. Tax, etc., are required to be deducted from the maternity benefit, i.e., salary/wages payable for 81 days, or one month extra, whatever it may be.

If the concerned staff have taken more leave than prescribed by law and if it is without pay, then obviously statutory deductions have not been applied and are not applicable.

Regards,
Pramod Thakar

Maternity Leave Salary Payment for Women Under ESI

How are you going to pay maternity leave salary to women who are covered under ESI? You need to obtain a leave certificate from the employee, which should be provided by the ESI doctor.

In this regard, you cannot pay a salary for the time not worked. If the salary is not paid, the question of deduction does not arise.

Regards,
V. Subbarao

There are two aspects we need to focus on:

1) If the employee is covered under ESI (i.e., her gross salary is less than Rs. 15,000/-), then she is eligible to claim wages/salary from ESI as per statutory norms.

2) If the employee is not covered under ESI (i.e., her overall gross salary is greater than Rs. 15,000/-), then it is the responsibility of the company to pay wages/salary.

Note: However, if the salary is processed, then her statutory deductions need to be automatically deducted.

Kindly correct me if I am wrong.