Female employee for loss of pay for her maternity Leave

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1

Hi,

Can the employer ask the female employee to take loss of pay for her maternity Leave? What does the rule say?
During pandemic times and company not doing well, what are the options?

Please advise

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2

Hi,

You cannot put loss of pay as per Maternity law. Rule says you need to pay full gross salary for 6 months if an employee not covered under ESI.

If covered ESI will take care.

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3

This is very Interesting & Debatable Question, Our Labour Polices are Employee Centric and Employer has no rights to cry out the Pain they are going through by giving such Benefits.

Maternity Policy which was Drafted in 1961 is May be Important now for Few Sectors but in All, even If it is then Government should Contribute the Cost, Not Only Employer, In My Opinion; this Policy is highly Misused in the Country & needs serious Amendments.

But Yes, Law Says; You can not Terminate the Services of Any Women Employee during the Maternity, Even if Company needs to Terminate Few Employees due to Financial Crisis but Paying Maternity is Mandatory.

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4

Can you please share us the detailed law guidance.

Regards,

Bala S - Yahoo

5

Hi Bala,

You can refer to the given below links -

Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 (greythr.com)

The Maternity Benefit Act 1961 (greythr.com)

The above links provide the benefits, rules, and regulations applicable for maternity benefits.

The crux of having employment and labour laws is to curb the ‘master-slave concept that existed way back.

The International Labour Organization thrives to bring in the workers’ economic justice, social security, health, and safety principles at the workplace.

The Constitution of India (mother of all the laws) through the directive principles of state policy directs the States to endeavor maximum to achieve the aforesaid principles.

The labour laws, especially the maternity benefit is a beneficial piece of legislation with the key objectives of –

i. encouraging women employment

ii. providing economic, social justice to women

iii. ensure healthy, safe working conditions at the time of pregnancy

A law is passed after extensive research and analyses; substantiated with detailed exhaustive reports and then gets tabled as a ‘bill’ before the parliament. There is a procedure adopted to take adequate consultation from the public and time given to file the objections if any before such ‘bill’ gets passed by both houses with the President’s assent as a ‘law’.

There is a concept of ‘interpretation of laws’ through the lens of which the adjudicating authorities have to analyze the disputes before passing a judgment.

Hope the above helps.

Regards,
Bhuvana Anand

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