Pregnant and Pressured: Can My Manager Move Me to the Bench Before Maternity Leave?

I am working as a senior consultant in a leading software MNC in Bangalore. I am currently pregnant, and my manager is asking for the Maternity Leave plan from the beginning of the 3rd month itself. I am planning to take Maternity Leave around the end of June (9th month) and have informed my manager about the plan. I have already provided knowledge transfer for the backups. Can I be released from the project and moved to the bench before taking Maternity Leave? I would like to know if there is any rule in place to move me to the bench without my consent.

Getting released from a project and moving to the bench is an internal matter of your company. It is outside the purview of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. Have you spoken to your manager and requested a release from the project? What are his views? His concern could be finding the right replacement for you.

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

Thank you for your reply. I did not request a release from the project. My manager wants to assign me additional roles and responsibilities two months before. After learning about my pregnancy, they called me for a meeting and requested a maternity leave plan. I informed them that I could continue working for five more months. However, within a month, they organized knowledge transfer sessions and decided to release me from the project as I was working from home. It seems that after finding out about my pregnancy, they no longer want to consider me.

Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Thank you.

Dear 25101978, What type of work to assign, whom to assign, when to assign, etc., are internal matters of the company. Your management or manager is within their rights to do so. Linking it to Maternity Leave does not sustain in the eyes of the law.

Every manager expects continuity in the work. A couple of months later, you will go on long leave on account of your maternity. Against this backdrop, possibly they might have taken this decision well in advance in order to groom your replacement.

Since you are out of the project, does it mean that you are on the bench? Being on the bench is the worst thing that any software professional will desire. But then we need to strike a balance between events of life and career events. The former has to be given primacy over the latter.

These are not the times wherein you should beset yourself with career worries. Your maternal responsibility has already started. This new responsibility demands to be free from tension. Therefore, leave those worries for the future, be happy, and be ready to welcome a newcomer to your home 

All the best!

Regards,
Dinesh Divekar