I Am In Contractual Job,and I Am Pregnant,want To Go On Maternity Leave

Hello All,

I am in a contractual job, but the duration of the contract is not decided. Am I able to take maternity leave for this job?

Regards,
Preeti

Ms. Preeti,

As I understood, your employment was organized and covered under statutory norms, so you are eligible for Maternity Leave with wages. There are two issues related to you:

1. If you are covered under ESIC (Employee State Insurance Corporation - if your gross salary is below 15000), then you are eligible for Maternity Leave with wages. Wages will be provided by ESIC, and leave will be given by the employer, meaning employment will continue for the period of six weeks before delivery and six weeks after delivery. Total medical treatment will be provided by ESIC hospitals. If you prefer, you can request to be referred to your known doctor or hospital. To avail this benefit, you must first visit an ESIC doctor for a pregnancy confirmation. For assistance with the ESIC process, you can contact your HR or me, and I will help you.

2. If you are not covered by ESIC, then you are covered under the Maternity Benefit Act 1961. According to Section 5 of this act, "Subject to the provisions of this Act, every woman shall be entitled to, and her employer shall be liable for, the payment of maternity benefit at the rate of the average daily wage for the period of her actual absence immediately preceding and including the day of her delivery and for the six weeks immediately following that day."

Based on my understanding, you are eligible for the Maternity Leave with wages benefit in any case. If you have any private issues such as salary details or barriers to availing this benefit, feel free to contact me via email.

Note: I am not a consultant; I am simply sharing my knowledge.

Take care.

Regards,

Ramnarayan

Email: ramnarayanhr@gmail.com

9701821205

With my previous reply, I forgot to attach the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. Please find the attachment of the act and go through it thoroughly.

Dear Mrs. Preeti,

You are eligible for maternity benefits and maternity leave. Please claim this from your employer. You can take leave for 12 weeks (6 weeks before delivery and 6 weeks after delivery).

Your daily salary will be calculated as follows:
(Basic salary + Dearness Allowance + House Rent Allowance + the monetary value of the concessional supply of food grains and other articles + Incentive Bonus).

Regards,
Suhas Khambe

Dear Members,

In our NGO, all employees are on contractual employment for one year (depending upon performance, we renew the contract after one year) and are eligible for only 10 days of CL and 10 days of SL. We are not covered under ESIC.

One of our female employees, who has completed 8 months of service, has applied for Maternity Leave. Is she eligible for Maternity Leave? Please advise.

Dear Kishore,

Yes, she is eligible for maternity leave. It does not make a difference whether she is covered under ESIC or not. It is a woman's right to take the same, unless your contract has terms, points, agreements, or an MOU with the female employee regarding such cases.

Secondly, you have a system of renewing the contract based on performance for another year.

When you talk of contractual employees, what do you mean? Are they employed on a temporary basis? Or are they working on a fixed-term employment? Or are they working through a contract? Or is it that they are consultants? If they are consultants, the maternity act will not apply. If they are on fixed-term employment, they will only get paid leave for the remaining period of their fixed term.

Dear Mrs. Preethi,

You are eligible for maternity leave even if you are in a contractual job. If your contract owner fails to provide the leave, the principal employer is liable for the above leave.

Ok.

B. L. Madhavan
HRD
RANE EVL

The question is, if it is a fixed-term contract, does the contract period automatically get extended to the end of the maternity leave? I do not think that would be the case. It is not termination; then, it is completion of the contract.