Maternity Leave and Bonuses: Is Your Employee Still Eligible for the Annual Bonus?

If an employee proceeds on maternity leave, will she be eligible for the annual bonus?

There is no provision in the Payment of Bonus Act to make any deduction in the payment of bonus on account of taking leave of any kind, including maternity leave. The amount of bonus payable to an employee for a year depends on the wage/salary earned in the respective accounting year.

Leave salary is also earned by the employee with respect to the service and the other eligibility conditions.

Dear Friend,

Please refer to Section 14 of the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, concerning the "Computation of the number of working days." For the purpose of calculating the minimum and maximum bonus payable to an employee, as per Section 14(d), the period spent on maternity leave with salary or wage during the accounting year should be considered as days worked.

Dear Member,

The Maternity Leave with wage or salary will not disqualify you from receiving the bonus. However, if the employee is covered under the ESI, the situation will be different. The employer is not under any obligation to treat the benefit received from ESI as wage or salary.