Maternity Benefits

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Maternity Benefits Granted Beyond the Contractual Term in Fixed Term Contracts

In August 2023, in Dr. Kavita Yadav v. The Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Department and Ors. (“Kavita Yadav Case”),[1] the Supreme Court of India (“Supreme Court”) overruled the High Court of Delhi’s (“Delhi HC”) decision from 2019 in the same case (“Kavita Yadav Delhi HC Decision”) to hold that fixed-term employees would be entitled to full maternity benefits under Section 5 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (“Maternity Benefit Act”), even after the expiry of their contractual term.   Continue Reading Maternity Benefits Granted Beyond the Contractual Term in Fixed Term Contracts

The Karnataka Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Rules, 2019

The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (the Act) was introduced to regulate the maternity and related benefits that are extended to women in certain establishments for a period before and after childbirth.

In 2017, by way of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 (Amendment Act), various progressive changes were brought about to the law, such as an increase in maternity leave from 12 to 26 weeks, provision for maternity leave for adopting mothers and commissioning mothers, and the introduction of a work-from-home concept as part of an employee’s conditions of service.

Section 11A of the Act, which was introduced under the Amendment Act, made it compulsory for every establishment employing 50 or more employees to provide a crèche facility for its employees. The Amendment Act uses the term “employees” and not “women” thus leading to varied interpretations – for example, does “employees” include employees of all genders and does the Act apply to both permanent as well as contract employees?
Continue Reading The Karnataka Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Rules, 2019: Good Intentions But Can It Be Implemented?

First in our series of Employment Law blogs on the Maternity Benefit Act.

The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2016 (“Amendment Act”), which was passed by Parliament on March 9th, 2017, introduced certain significant changes to the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (“MB Act”). The Amendment Act received Presidential assent on March 27th, 2017 and came into effect from April 1st, 2017 except for the provisions, that require an employer to provide a creche facility. These are scheduled to become effective from July 1st, 2017.

Subsequent to the introduction of the Amendment Act and clarifications issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment on April 12th, 2017 (“Clarification”), several questions have been raised by companies with respect to their obligations as employers under certain aspects of the Amendment Act.Continue Reading Analysis of Certain Aspects of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2016

On August 11, 2016, the Government of India (GoI) introduced the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (Bill) in the Parliament. The Bill was introduced to amend the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (Act) – the Act, as many may be aware, is the legislation to provide certain benefits to women in the context of pregnancy. The Act is applicable to factories, mines and plantations as well as to every ‘shop and establishment’ (a statutory term that would ordinarily cover various organizations in the private sector with an office/place of business in India) in which ten or more persons, are/ were, employed, on any day over the preceding twelve months.

On September 11, 2008, the GoI introduced the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission relating to enhancement of the amount of maternity leave and introduced child care leave in respect of central government employees. Effectively this resulted in increase in maternity leave and child care leave. Separately, several companies in the private sector introduced more beneficial provisions for female employees including better maternity leave than the Act provided. However, the Act did not introduce any changes in line with the changing needs of working women /mothers which the Bill intends to address.Continue Reading Maternity Benefit Law : Key Developments