Maternity Leave Dilemma: Can I Extend My Leave or Resign Without Penalty?

I am currently on maternity leave, which ends on 31st December 2018. However, my baby is just 5 months old and is on complete mother's feed. My office doesn't have a creche facility to take care of the baby, and I don't have anyone with me to help. I think I won't be able to join the office, but my employers are forcefully asking me to return to work.

Seeking Advice on Maternity Leave Extension

Please suggest what I should do. Can I request an extension of leave? If yes, for how many days? Can I resign? If so, will I need to serve the complete notice period? What if my office asks me to repay the maternity benefits paid?

Maternity Leave and Resignation Concerns

You have completed or are about to complete 26 weeks of paid leave. You need more leave to ensure your baby is comfortable. If no extension of leave is approved by the employer, you might consider resigning. When you submit your resignation papers, the employer may ask for a notice period. You cannot serve the notice period; if you could, you would have returned to the office. Once you make it through the first week, you may get accustomed to it and might even consider continuing in the organization.

The major question is whether the employer can demand repayment of the 5 months' salary already paid to you. The answer is NO. The employer cannot demand that you repay the maternity leave salary paid to you. If you resign now, they might retain this month's salary and adjust it towards the notice pay.

Practical Advice

I would advise that you should not resign and leave. Women, being very empowered, should take it as a challenge. If there are 50 employees in your establishment (men and women combined), you can demand a creche and have the opportunity to visit your baby and feed him/her four times during an 8-hour period. This can solve more than half of your problems.

At the same time, if you resign and leave stating that you want to take care of your baby, then the question generally posed to women will be, "Why didn’t you think of this before availing maternity leave with salary when everyone knows that a baby of six months old will need the mother’s care all throughout the day?" If all women start leaving the organizations that provided them employment at a time when employment was very important to them than their families, then employers will also start thinking that women should take care of their families, and they can refrain from hiring them. Should we give employers the opportunity to think like this?

Dear Anonymous,

I am writing to inquire about the possibility of working from home, considering the Maternity Benefit Act contains guidelines on this matter. This arrangement would be based on mutually agreed terms.

Shailesh Parikh
99 98 97 10 65
Vadodara

As Shailesh suggested, why don't you meet with the concerned person and request to work from home? This option is quite popular nowadays. Additionally, you should consider hiring reliable domestic help on a full-time or part-time basis, if possible. This might require you to gradually transition to supplementary feeding. Is your office nearby? If not, think about relocating your residence closer to the office, even if it involves a slightly higher rent.

Have you discussed this with your husband? There is a provision for paternity leave for men who have a newborn. You could explore this option. If you share your challenges with your office or Head of Department, they may be able to offer some solutions.

Thank you.