Hi Team,
Please guide me on the procedure to be followed if an employee wants to resign her job during her maternity leave as she got better offer in another company.
Thanks in Advance
Abitha
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The only thing employer can do in this case is follow the due process of Separation. If Employee is still on Maternity leave, then her notice period will be Maternity Leave only. So she doesn’t need to come to work. Take the handover & relieve her.
There is nothing much you can do.
Note: Quitting during Maternity is not good conduct by the employee. Some take advantage of laws meant for welfare, but to work or not to work depends upon the wish of employee. Learning for establishment & HR.
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Hi @Abitha
It’s a very challenging question, and challenging situation for the employer too.
As @Ankit said it falls under the regular separation and needs to be followed in this case, giving the notice period stated in her contract or as agreed with the employer. But if an employee resigns after the end of maternity leave, they should work as per the notice period policy unless they have agreed to take annual leave or sick leave. or so as per the company policy.
But the answer, in short, is - to be treated as a normal resignation for now.
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Hi Dinesh & Ankit
Thanks for the information. In our case, she wants to relieve immediately and the company also agrees to that. Please guide me, in this scenario, as a HR do I need to follow any legal procedures with regard to labour laws which may be asked by labour inspector at times of inspection.
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In my opinion, it needs to be taken case-to-case basis, especially based on the date of resignation, maternity leave ending date and actual reasons for exit. Ideally , we cannot force them to serve notice. We can request based on the reason. However, as HRs, the first attempt should be to discuss and understand the actual reasons/triggers for resignation and try to retain the employee.
The resignation process should be similar. Now that most exit formalities are happening virtually, so the employee can follow the same steps. Alternatively, HR and/or someone from the team can help getting all the clearances and completing the exit formalities.
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Hi,
Its very unfortunate that Labour Law say “Company cannot ask the employee to leave because she is on her Maternity Leave but no law what if any employee ditch the company”.
Anyways, after analyzing the situation above in my opinion if company is also ok with her resignation then you should let go by following normal procedure.
I hope this information may help you.
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Hi Team,
Will the company roll back the benefits , i.e. Salary paid during maternity break in this case? Lets say the company had already paid for 4 months or 5 months Salary and the employee sends resignation in the last month notifying 1 month as per her notice period of 1 month, what will be the process?
Thanks
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Hi Nidhi,
As per the Maternity Act you need to pay her for 6 months salary which you did. Now if she resigns and paying the notice period recovery amount also., but you can always ask her to serve the notice period by reporting to work if its really required her presence and handing over the work responsibility.
You cannot roll back the amount which you have already paid and you were supposed to pay her under Maternity benefit.
Now, you need to treat this case as normal resignation and do the exit procedure.
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