How Should We Handle an Early Maternity Leave Request Beyond Policy Limits?

Seeking Advice on Maternity Leave Request

Hello HR Professionals, I am seeking your opinion on a certain case. An employee of ours is requesting to begin her maternity leave 2 months early as Leave Without Pay (LOP) for March and April, prior to the start date eligible according to the Maternity Act (Amendment) 2017. We have no reservations about approving the Maternity Period as per the Government Act, which allows 8 weeks prior to delivery and 18 weeks post-delivery. However, this employee has requested to start her leave around 16 weeks before her due date and wishes to extend it to approximately 26 weeks after delivery.

I am unsure of how to handle this situation. We can permit the leave period as required by the Maternity Benefit Act, but not before the policy's effective start date, which is 8 weeks prior to the due date.

I would greatly appreciate your advice on this matter.

Maternity is a critical phase in a woman's life, and the health issues associated with pregnancy are varied and unpredictable. Therefore, when she requests additional leave, especially on leave without pay (LOP), I believe the employer should consider and approve it on humanitarian grounds.

Everyone's case is different. It's okay if a pregnant employee is taking half or full-day sick leave, as long as it's not affecting your company's work.

In this case, you should try to understand what the employee is going through and why she is asking for 2 months of leave without pay (LOP). You can request a doctor's certificate (if you wish) and based on that, you can approve the LOP.

Dear friend, needless to dwell much on the various types of sickness experienced by a pregnant woman at different stages of pregnancy. Just the necessity to avail frequent leave in between work and the inevitable inconvenience caused to the work might be an embarrassment, compelling the lady to ask for early leave on LOP. I can understand your concern about the alleged misuse of leave provisions by some employees on frequent, flimsy, and fake grounds. Therefore, it is an issue to be decided by the immediate superiors on a case-to-case basis through close monitoring only.