Maternity leave: Employers may get financial support
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This follows instances of employers trying to cut costs by letting go female workers claiming maternity benefits after the leave period was increased to 26 weeks from 12 weeks.
The labour ministry proposes to reimburse employers the salaries paid for seven of the additional 14 weeks of maternity leave for female employees in the Rs 15,000 salary bracket who have been EPFO subscribers for 12 months, a senior government official told ET. This would cost the government Rs 400 crore annually.
The policy will start on a pilot basis in New Delhi and Maharashtra and scaled up across India later.
“Much on the lines of Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana, the labour ministry now plans to give fiscal incentives to employers to retain female workers availing 26 weeks of maternity leave,” the official told ET on condition of anonymity. The plan is for employers to bear half the salary payable for the additional 14 weeks of leave provided under the amended Maternity Benefit (Amend ..