Coomunication Regarding Maternity Benefit Act Amendment

Questions have been raised on:
Whether it is legally mandatory for the employer to communicate the recent amendments made in Maternity Benefit Act of 1961, to all the employees (either written or electronically) once it takes effect..?
What is inserted (in the amendment) is that every establishment shall intimate in writing and electronically to every woman at the time of her initial appointment regarding every benefit available under the Act. So what about existing employees. There are few organizations who do not want to explicitly communicate the changes to existing employees of the change, though, are absolutely OK with providing all the benefits once the employee initiates the Maternity leaves.

what do you mean by explicitly communicate the changes? It is the duty of the Employer to inform about the Amendment to all Women Employees. if you do not communicate on your own, it sends a wrong signal.Please be transparent in Legal matters

I agree. But, this is not my opinion.. but a question raised to me and I wanted to be clear on legal terms. The query raised was that an employer was of an opinion that they should not communicate that maternity laws has changed to 26 weeks to existing employees. But, i disagreed and told them exactly what you said. But, then I was questioned.. "Is is mentioned anywhere in the law that we HAVE to communicate?" Hence, the requirement for me to raise the question.

You put a notice explaining the new amendment to the maternity benefit Act.Do it after the amendment comes to effect. Mention the same in the future appointment orders also.

Everything can not be mentioned in Law.Employers have to be proactive and communicate accordingly.Employees do not have complete knowledge about various Laws/Benefits they are entitled to.Consequently, Lot of money is spent by State & Central Governments to inform all about various benefits/Amendments to Employees.

There are certain unwritten laws, also known as business ethics . Therefore, communicating welfare schemes of employees becomes ethical duty on employer's part.

The amendment says that the women employees shall be informed about the benefits under the Act at the time of appointment. It applies to new employee, not to existing employees.