Maternity Leave Extension Confusion: How Can I Ensure My Company Honors the New Policy?

Hello Team, kindly provide your suggestions on my issue below:

Currently, I am on maternity leave, which started at the end of January '17 and will continue until April '17. Recently (March 9th), maternity benefits have been extended to 26 weeks. When I approached my company regarding my eligibility for the new policy, they responded by stating they haven't received any updates or guidelines from central Mumbai (internal company, I assume). Almost all companies have implemented this benefit for their employees in Bangalore, but my company has not provided me with any clarity. Please suggest how I should proceed further to avail myself of this benefit. Am I still eligible for this new policy even though my maternity leave has already begun?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

Best regards, Sun13

The Maternity Bill passed in Lok Sabha has not yet been amended. That is, it is still not legally documented. In your case, if it is amended before April 2017, you might be able to avail this benefit. If not, you can't.

Rightly said by Saravanan. It is just passed in Lok Sabha, and there is no Gazette notification. Only after the notification, we will get to know the effective date as well.

Your assumption stating almost all the companies giving maternity benefits for 26 weeks is wrong. There are many companies still following a 12-week maternity policy; only very few companies have extended it to 26 weeks.

The amendment to the Maternity Benefit Act is not yet effective as it is awaiting the Presidential assent. After that, it needs to be notified in the official gazette which will specify the effective date.

As of now, your company is correct in their stand.

It would be worth checking whether the law, when it gets enacted, would be applicable retroactively! From the above expert comments, it sounds like a 'yes', but it's worth checking after the enactment of the MBA.