Is It Fair to Miss Out on Appraisal Due to Maternity Leave Despite Hard Work?

I have been working in an organization for more than 4 years, and my due date is in September. I have not been considered for appraisal this year, stating that I shall be going on maternity leave in August. Does the company have the right to do so even if you have performed well and worked for extended hours during your pregnancy?

Maternity Leave and Performance Appraisal

Maternity leave and performance appraisal are two unrelated things. These need not be linked. However, we need to know about your company's performance cycle. What is the duration of your performance cycle? Who will conduct your Performance Appraisal (PA), when will it be done, and how will it be done? Who designed your KRAs, and do you have evidence of the attainment of the KRAs? Who told you that there will not be a PA for you? Have you read the Policy on PA? Does it include a clause on the exclusion of women employees who are due to proceed on maternity leave?

We do not know about your company's policy on performance appraisal. However, the application of any policy is always uniform. Therefore, you might have to put up an application for conducting the PA for you. You may proceed on maternity leave as scheduled; however, maintaining records about PA in your personal file is important. Not having PA records might create adverse repercussions for you. Who knows, some gentleman in the future might construe it as your zero performance. You need to foreclose this eventuality now itself.

For further queries, feel free to [contact me](https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwFZpLigNaA5TnVXck53a1RycU0/view?usp=sharing).

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar