Maternity Leave Eligibility: Does Previous Contract Work Count Towards Benefits?

Maternity Leave Eligibility Query

This is in reference to a query related to maternity leave. I have a question: if a female employee has been working in an organization for 10 months on a contractual basis and has been selected for another position within the same organization after passing an exam, would her previous job be considered when applying for maternity leave?

According to the Maternity Benefit Act-2017, an employee must have completed a minimum of 80 days of work to be eligible for maternity benefits. In her new position, she has not completed the required 80 days, but her total duration with the organization is 1 year. Would she still be eligible for maternity benefits regardless of the positions held?

Kindly clarify my query. I would be very thankful to you.

Hi Deepika,

The female employee is very much eligible for maternity benefits considering her total period of service. The change of employment role from contract to regular is an internal matter of the company, and for benefits purposes, the Date of Joining (DOJ) has to be considered from the very beginning.

Eligibility for Maternity Benefits

The Act does not say that a woman employee who has worked for 80 days will get maternity benefits. However, the Act states that a woman employee who has worked for 80 days in the "12 months preceding the expected date of delivery" is eligible for maternity leave. Therefore, the qualifying service is 12 months, and during this period, she must have worked for at least 80 days. Consequently, a woman employee who has been with the company for, let's say, 5 years, may not be eligible for maternity benefits if she has not worked for 80 days during the 12 months immediately preceding the delivery.

There are instances where a woman takes leave starting from the second month of pregnancy on a leave without pay basis and applies for maternity leave after childbirth, assuming she has completed five years of service or more. In such cases, the maternity leave application may be rejected, stating that she did not work during the last 12 months.

To be eligible for maternity leave, the period of service as a contractual employee, other than under any outsourcing agency or contractor, will be considered as service.

Madhu Sir has replied aptly, but since she has worked in Contract, I hope she must be covered under ESI; hence, the Maternity Benefit will be taken care of by ESI.