Maternity Leave and Gratuity: Is an Employee Eligible After 5 Years of Service?

Hi Experts out there,

Please help me out on whether or not an employee would be eligible for Gratuity if she was on Maternity Leave during 5 years of service with the company and right after completion of 5 years, the employee has resigned.

Thank you all in advance!

Regards,
Sunil

Dear Suni,

Maternity leave is also like other types of leaves such as CL, SL, EL, etc., and is to be considered for the purpose of continuity of service. In this case, this employee is entitled to have gratuity from her employer under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, as she has been in service continuously for five years.

R N KHOLA

Dear Sunil,

As maternity leave is also a part of her employment, she is eligible for gratuity.

Regards,
E. Pradeep Kumar

Dear Sunil, the learned members have given you the correct answer to your query. However, I'd like to insist that you should go through the relevant provisions of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, to gain self-clarity that will stay in your mind forever and also inculcate the habit of reviewing the laws with which we are concerned when necessary.

Therefore, please familiarize yourself with Section 2-A of the Act where the term "Continuous Service" is defined for the purpose of the Act. Carefully and critically analyze part (iv) of the explanation to subsection (2) of Section 2-A. By doing so, you will understand the legal basis and reasoning behind the exact answers provided earlier.

She is eligible since MB leave is a part of her service.