Maternity Leave Dilemma: What Happens When Your Company Has No Policy?

Maternity Leave Policy Inquiry

I need to know about the maternity leave policy. What if there is no policy currently in the company? Additionally, what about the salary? How much salary will female employees receive during maternity leave?

The applicability of Maternity Benefits does not depend upon company policy. Even if there is no policy, if it falls under the applicable purview, the Act will be applicable to the company.

Applicability of Maternity Benefits

It applies to all establishments in which 10 or more persons are employed, or were employed, on any day of the preceding twelve months.

Eligibility for Maternity Benefits

Women, whether temporary or unmarried, are eligible for maternity benefits when they are expecting a child and have worked for their employer for at least 80 days in the 12 months immediately preceding the date of their expected delivery.

The actual wages are supposed to be paid to the woman.

Regards

Maternity Benefit Act, 1961

The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, has provisions for maternity benefits.

Eligibility

A woman is eligible for maternity benefits when she has worked for at least 80 days in the preceding 12 months from her expected delivery date.

Pay

The employer shall pay maternity benefits equal to Basic + DA + Cash Allowances + Incentive Bonus for the period of absence to the woman employee.

Leave

The woman employee is eligible to receive maternity benefits for 84 days (i.e., 12 weeks). Out of the 84 days, the period before delivery should be a maximum of 42 days.

Medical Bonus

The employer should pay Rs 250/- to the woman employee as a Medical Bonus if no prenatal and postnatal care is provided to the concerned woman employee free of charge.

Other Leaves (with wages as in maternity benefit) arising out of pregnancy

(a) Miscarriage, Medical termination - 6 weeks from the day after pregnancy miscarriage or medical termination of pregnancy.
(b) Tubectomy - 2 weeks from the day after tubectomy.
(c) Illness due to Pregnancy, Delivery - One month.

Nursing Breaks

Every woman who has delivered a child and returns to duty after such delivery shall, in addition to the interval for rest allowed to her, be allowed two breaks of the prescribed duration for nursing the child until the child attains the age of fifteen months.

If the company does not have any such policy, you may write to them to avail benefits as per the law. If they do not respond to your query positively, you may serve a legal notice to that company to avail those benefits.

Regards, Dr. M. K. Ravi

Changes in Maternity Leave in India

There have been some changes under the law where the paid maternity leave in India has been increased from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for working women. Additionally, the prenatal leave duration has also been extended from 6 to 8 weeks. Furthermore, a woman who is the mother of 2 or more children is eligible for 12 weeks of maternity leave. For more details, please refer to the amendment in the Maternity Benefit Act 2017 as attached.

Regards, Dr. M. K. Ravi Advocate

Maternity Leave Requirements

Yes, you are required to pay maternity leave irrespective of the company policy. The policy will apply if it provides more favorable terms of maternity than those provided by law. Otherwise, remember that you cannot contract for a term or benefit less than what is statutorily available.

Unfortunately, some of our members are at times obsessed with the policies of their organizations in employment matters. Generally, in a positive sense, policy is a guiding principle to regulate our actions within the established norms of the society in which we live. Therefore, no policy can be for its own sake but should move in tandem with the laws of the land.

Importance of Compliance with Employment Laws

In the realm of employment, it is all the more important for employers to devise their human resource policies in such a manner as not to run counter to the existing employment laws and make them flexible enough to accommodate future changes in the legal provisions as and when the occasion arises. Just because an organization's policy has no provision for a statutory employee benefit or such a benefit is not in accordance with the law in terms of scale and sanction, it cannot be a valid reason for non-compliance.

Therefore, the poster's organization is under a legal obligation to comply with the provisions of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, as elaborated above by the learned colleagues.