Understanding the 12-Month Rule in Maternity Benefits: When Do the 80 Days Count?

Dear All,

I have a question. According to The Maternity Benefit Act, a female employee must have completed 80 days of service in the previous 12 months. What is the role of these 12 months in considering a female employee for the mentioned benefit? Does it mean she should have joined before the 12 months, or does this sentence only specify the limit for calculating the 80 days for her eligibility?

Your guidance on this matter is kindly requested.

Thank you

Hi,

The meaning of the sentence is that the benefit is applicable to a female employee who has worked at least 80 days before she declares her pregnancy. For example, if a woman does not come to work for 12 months due to any personal or health reason and then asks for Maternity Benefit, it may not be applicable to her.

Eligibility for Maternity Benefit

The woman employee should have worked for eighty days to claim maternity benefit from her employer. This is the qualification fixed by law. The law further specifies how these eighty days have to be reckoned. It states that the woman should have worked for at least eighty days prior to the date of her expected delivery. So, the employer has to ascertain whether the woman employee has worked for eighty days. The counting has to start from the date of her expected delivery and go back through the months preceding the date of her expected delivery, with the eighty days falling within twelve months prior to the expected delivery date. It is possible that the eighty days of work could occur within less than twelve months from the expected delivery date. The twelve-month period is a timeframe set by the framers of the Maternity Benefit Act.

With regards

Thank you, Mr. Manoj Kamble and Mr. V. Harikishnan. My next question is for Mr. V. Harikishnan.

Sir, does it mean if a woman has completed her 2 months (30 days in each) and 20 days of service, then she will become eligible for maternity benefits? As per the ESIC Act, for entitlement to maternity benefit, the insured woman should have contributed for not less than seventy days in the immediately preceding two consecutive contribution periods prior to the actual or expected date of confinement. Now, ESIC sets two contribution periods (each of six months) to count eligibility for benefits. Then, should it have been the same case in the matter of non-ESIC covered women? Kindly explain!

Dear Mr. Rahul Sindhwan, please read section 5(2) of the Maternity Benefit Act. However, I have extracted the relevant portion of section 5(2) below:

"No woman shall be entitled to maternity benefit unless she has actually worked in an establishment of the employer from whom she claims maternity benefit for a period of not less than eighty days in the twelve months immediately preceding the date of her expected delivery."

So, to qualify to get maternity benefit, the woman should have actually worked in the establishment of the employer. The section uses the term "actually worked" and not "service." You have equated "worked" with "service."

Secondly, a worker, whether man or woman, could not work for 30 days in a month as he/she would have had weekly holidays during the month. All laws regulating the working hours/weekly holidays do not prescribe the payment of wages for weekly holidays (e.g., Factories Act).

Thirdly, please read the explanation to section 5(2), which states what days to be included/excluded while computing the eighty days. This explanation says that holidays declared under any law for the time being in force to be holidays with wages are included while computing the eighty days. If the weekly holidays are holidays with wages under any law applicable to the establishment in which the woman is working, then she would be eligible to get maternity benefit after 2 months and 20 days if she had actually worked on all the days excepting the weekly holidays for which she is entitled to wages under any law applicable.

With regards

Respected Sir,
My last question on the above matter.
Is that mean maternity benefit act has two types of criteria. One is for employer to provide benefit on approx three month of service (if consider payment of rest days/holidays) and second for ESIC with two contribution period (six months in each) condition.
As per section 5A of maternity benefit act. "Continuance of payment of maternity benefit in certain cases.—Every woman entitled to the payment of maternity benefit under this Act shall, notwithstanding the application of the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 (34 of 1948), to the factory or other establishment in which she is employed, continue to be so entitled until she becomes qualified to claim maternity benefit under section 50 of that Act.].
Does it mean, after three months of service, a women, who is cover under ESIC act, can claim maternity benefits from the employer (because of non completion of two contribution period condition).
Please guidance!
Regards,
Rahul Sindhwani

Section 5A refers to the case of a woman to whom the MB Act was applicable initially and who is subsequently covered by the ESI Act. This section is not applicable to a woman to whom the ESI Act applies from the first day of her employment with the employer from whom she claims maternity benefit.

If my due date is in November 2018, and I joined a new company in April 2018, am I eligible for maternity leave? What should I do if the company asks me to resign? Please tell me.

One of the employees is pregnant (2-3 months), always sick, or working from home. In this case, can the employer talk to her and suggest working part-time or as a consultant? She has been with us for around two years. The salary offered for this arrangement would be less than that of a full-time position.

Hi,

If you have the option to work from home, she can be given that opportunity, as sickness during the initial days of pregnancy is very common. Changing her employment status (either part-time or as a consultant), especially during the initial maternity period, is not ethical or valid. This could be interpreted as the employer's attempt to reduce maternity salary payments.

Hi all,

I want to know, what does "12 months preceding the date of her expected delivery" mean? Does it mean that the employee has to work in an organization for one year to get the benefits, or will she get the benefits for maternity leave if she has worked for 80 days but has not yet completed one year?

Thank you.

Thanks for all your inputs. I have been reading a lot around the Maternity Benefits Act lately. Below are my findings:

a. Even a woman on probation is entitled to maternity benefits.

b. The company has the right to terminate the employment duties of a pregnant woman when she is under probation.

c. Section 12(2)(a) of the Maternity Benefits Act infers that a woman on probation who is terminated by her employer during her pregnancy is eligible for maternity benefits, provided that she had worked in the establishment for at least 80 days (including paid holidays, paid weekends, and any laid-off days) in the last 12 months from the date of her expected delivery.