Company Not Allowing Maternity Leave Extension

aparnachowdhry
I have a friend, whose company is refusing to give her any more leaves after Maternity leave and forcing her to join.
Her baby has just turned 3 months. She is from a nuclear family and has no support for the baby right now. Neither is there any provision in her company for the same.
My friend is asking for 1 more month of leave (Leave without pay), during which she will call her parents and will make suitable arrangements. She is requesting the management to grant her LOP's for a few more weeks, but no one is ready to accept.
Please advice on what steps my friend should take.
Is this legal from HR point of view to pressurize an employee to join work knowing her state?? The HR is telling her to either join or quit.
Dinesh Divekar
Dear Aparna,
Please note that employee leave is privilege and not entitlement. Whether to spare employee for Leave Without Pay (LWP) is employer's discretion. Managing absence arising out of Maternity Leave itself is a challenge. Since this is a statutory requirement, employer has fulfilled it but they may not be able to sustain additional absence because of lean manpower which most of the companies have.
Birth of child is a planned event. Pregnancies do not happen all of a sudden and your friend should not have been off the guard. She could have made arrangements of her post-natal activities.
Your friend has pushed herself in current predicament because of lack of foresight or forward thinking. Anyway, as a last resort, she may go in person and talk to HR. But she needs to take a call on resumption of her duties or discontinuation of her employment.
Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar
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