Maternity Leave Dilemma: Should We Credit Leave Balance During Her Break?

Hello everyone. I have a query related to the leaves. We have a lady employee who is on maternity leave and still hasn't joined the duties yet after the delivery. Every quarter, we add leave balance to all employees in the organization. My question is, do we need to credit the leave balance to her during maternity break, or does it have to be credited once she joins the duties?

Please guide me on how to proceed further.

Thank you.

In my view, you can credit the leave during her maternity leave to her account as in the case of any other regular employee since she is deemed to be in employment even during her maternity leave. However, if your question is whether she earns leave for the period she is on maternity leave, then the reply is that she does not earn any leave for the period during which she is on maternity leave.

Regards,
B. Saikumar

Ok, so it means that the number of days she is on maternity leave should be credited to her leave balance once the female employee reports back to work. Is that right?

As Saikumar said, during the maternity leave period, the employee does not earn leave. Therefore, it is advisable not to grant leave. If the employee is covered under ESI, then ESI will provide maternity leave. In this case, the company will not pay the employee, and the leave will be marked as ESI leave, which will not count towards earning leave in the future. Employees only earn leave for the days they are physically present.

Consideration for Medical Leave

In a different scenario, consider a male employee who has taken three months of medical leave. Would you grant the same amount of Earned Leave (EL) to that employee? I believe you would not. It's important to remember that privileges can become rights, so be cautious when extending privileges because once a practice is established, it may be challenging to retract it.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K