Am I Eligible for Maternity Leave as a Senior Resident on a Short-Term Contract?

Hello, I am a senior resident on an ad-hoc basis at a Delhi government hospital. My tenure is for 44 days and renewed after a one-day break. I have been working at the hospital since August 28, 2014, and my latest extension is until July 7, 2015. I am currently 35 weeks and 3 days pregnant, with my expected delivery date being July 29th. Am I eligible for maternity benefits and leave, as I intend to take leave from July 1st?

Dear Management, I am writing to inform you that I am pregnant, and my expected delivery date is [insert date here].

Eligibility for Pregnancy Benefits

As per company policy, if an employee has worked for 80 days in the 12-month period before the expected date of delivery, they are entitled to pregnancy benefits. The benefit is equivalent to 12 weeks of wages, with a maximum of 6 weeks allocated for the pre-delivery period. This benefit is also available in cases of Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP).

Additionally, I will be entitled to a one-time medical bonus of Rs. 3500.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,
A S Bhat

Eligibility for Maternity Benefits

Prima facie, you are eligible if your service is for a minimum of 80 days during the preceding 12 months. I'm sure you are not covered under the ESI Act. However, I'm not sure about your employment status. If you are serving in a Delhi Govt. hospital, then you are a Delhi Govt. servant. Therefore, first of all, I should study your appointment order and other communications governing your service. Only then can I provide my views comprehensively on your query.

Going by the little information that you provided here, it appears that there is a clandestine method to deny statutory benefits to you. It is evident that a 'one day break' is purposely inflicted to deny certain statutory benefits to you which are otherwise extendable to you in a normal course but for these unnatural breaks of one day. It also appears that you did have continuous extensions and were almost completing one year of service by 27th August 2015 but for this one day break after every 44 days of service syndrome. You have a strong case for claiming a remedy under 'unfair labor practices'. Pursue vigorously to claim your legally available benefits and to rectify the anomalies.

Being a Delhi Government servant, you are governed by FR SR. After having put in more than six months, even on an ad hoc basis or contractual basis, a female employee under r.43 is entitled to Maternity leave. See Ms. Sonika Kohli v. UOI, decided by CAT in Chandigarh.

Thanks,
Sushil

You are not eligible for benefits under the Maternity Benefit Act as the establishment you are working in is not covered under the Act. See section 2 of the Act. You will be eligible for benefits as per the service rules applicable to you as per the terms of your employment.

Varghese Mathew
08547139493

Hello Sushil,

The 80 days of service, as far as I am aware, will have to be continuous—irrespective of the employment status (contract, permanent, etc). In this particular case, there is a break of 1 day after every 44 days.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Regards,
TS

Dear Tajsateesh,

Please refer to FR SR wherein the concept of 80 days continuous service is not applicable but r.43 applies. It has been interpreted by CAT in Ms. Sonika Kohli's case that ad hoc or contractual female employees are entitled to Maternity Benefit like regular employees if they have been in service for six months, which is qualified in the present case. This is despite a break in service. In addition, there should be fewer than two surviving children.

Thanks,

Sushil

Hi all,

I have an additional question regarding maternity leave. If a person is on maternity leave, does the company have to pay for her SSS benefits? I need advice... Thank you.

Dear member,

In the past on this citeHR platform, similar topics were discussed. For reference, please see the following online links:
- https://www.citehr.com/524668-matern...e-benefit.html
- https://www.citehr.com/528640-matern...-employee.html

I hope you will examine the above links and refer to the issue if there are still doubts.