COMPENSATION

MANAGEMENT

Maternity
Benefit Act
1961
Presented To:- Presented By:-

Dr. Ruchi Gupta Parmendra Pratap Singh

(20241780053)
Bhalekar Shashank Shankar
(20241780017)
 Introduction

1. The Maternity Benefit Act is one of the best steps taken by the government to
protect women employment while they experience their Maternity.
2. Maternity Benefit is basically the benefit of getting full paid absence from
work.
3. This benefit is given to the woman with the motive to help her in taking care
of her child.
4. It extends to whole of India (including Jammu and Kashmir from 1970).
5. It has a total of 30 sections.
Applicability of the Act:
It applies , to every establishment being a factory,
mine or plantation as well as in the circus
industry.

It also apply to any shops or other establishment

in which 10 or more persons are employed.

Note:-

The state government with the approval of the

central government may extend this act to any
other establishment after giving a notice period
of 2 months.
 Important Definition under the
Act:

Woman
Child Delivery
A woman employed, whether
directly or through any Includes a still-born Means the birth of a
agency, for wages in any child. child.
establishment.

Appropriate
Employer
Government Wages
Means
The Central Government and in Means
relation to any other establishment,
the State Government;
 Employment of, or work by, women
prohibited during certain period
No employer shall knowingly employ a woman in any
establishment during the six weeks immediately following
the day of her delivery or her miscarriage.

No woman shall work in any establishment during the six

weeks immediately following the day of her delivery of her
miscarriage.
 Request by Pregnant Woman:
If a pregnant woman makes a request to her employer ,
then she shall not be given any work:

Which is arduous in nature or involves long

standing hours.

Which in any way is likely to:

1. Interfere with her pregnancy or the normal

development of fetus.
2. Cause her miscarriage.
3. Or in any way adversely affects her and the child's
health
 Payment of Maternity Benefit

Every woman shall be entitled to. and her

employer shall be liable for the payment of
materity benefit

Such period means:

At the rate of average daily
Before Delivery
wage for the period of
Actual day of Average Daily Wage:
absence on the account of
delivery.
maternity.
After Delivery
 Conditions to fulfill Maternity
Benefit:

CONDITION 1 DEATH OF WOMAN

She actually worked in an If a woman dies during
establishment of the employer delivery.
for a period of not less than 80 If she dies after delivering the
days. child.

CONDITION 2
DEATH OF CHILD
The max period of maternity
benefit shall be 12 weeks of which if the child dies.
more than 6 weeks shall proceed if both of them dies.
the date of her expected delivery.
Notice of Claim for Maternity Benefit
Any woman entitled to maternity benefit may give
notice to her employer :
In case such woman who is pregnant such notice shall
state:
A woman may give such notice as soon as possible after
the devlivery also.
The amout of maternity benefit:
1. For the period preceding the date of her delivery:
2. For subsequent period :
 Dismissal During the Absence:

It shall be unlawful for a woman's employer to:

Discharge or dismiss her during her pregnancy

To give notice of discharge or dismissal on such

day.
 Certain Cases of the Act

Payment of Medical Bonus No deduction of

Wages
Every woman is entitled to Maternity
benefit under this act shall also be
No deductions from the
entitled to receive from her
normal & unusual wages of a
employer a medical bonus of Rs.
women entitled to maternity
1,000.
benefit:
1. Nature of work assigned
The central government may change
2. Breaks for nursing
the amount of bonus every 3 years to
maximun Rs.20,000
Forfeiture Of Maternity Benefit

- If a woman works in any establishment

after she has been permitted by her
employer to absent herself under the
provisions of section 6 for any period
during such authorized absence, he/she
shall forfeit her claim to the maternity
benefit for such period.
 Latest Amendments:
The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill 2016, an
amendment to the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 was
passed in Rajya Sabha on August 11, 2016, in Lok Sabha
on March 09, 2017 , and received an assent from
President of India on March 27, 2017.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE AMENDMENT

Increase in Maternity Benefit

No increased benefit for third child
Adoption/Surrogacy
Creche Facility
Work from home
Prior Intimation
 Maternity Benefit Case

Dr. Mandeep Kaur v/s UOI

15/07/2020

The Petitioner was a medical officer,

employed via contract, at an Ex- Servicemen
Contributary Health Scheme (ECHS) clinic
set up by the state. She applied for maternity
leave with effect from 11.02.2018 for 180
days as per the provisions of the Maternity
Benefit Act, 1961.
 Submissions By Himachal Pradesh

The ECHS clinic refused her request on the basis that her contract of
employment with the clinic did not have any clause under which she could
claim “maternity leave”.
 Judgment

The Court noted that as per Section 2 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, the
benefits apply to every establishment in which ten or more persons are
employed, among others.

The Court further noted that the ECHS clinic in question was squarely covered
under Section 2 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 and thus the petitioner’s
application for availing benefits under the Act could not be refused.

The court also, while deciding the question of whether the petitioner despite
being a contractual employee could still avail of the benefits under the act,
quoted Municipal Corporation of Delhi v/s Female Workers and another[1], of the
Supreme Court which has explicitly mandated for the entitlement of maternity
leave to be made available to women employees whether permanent, casual or
contractual.
 Highlight of Judgment

The Court, whilst discussing the nature of benefits available to women under the
Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 also set out the amended Section 5 of the Act, which
extended the time period of maternity leave available to a woman from 12 weeks to 26
weeks, and also provided a “work from home” option that could be exercised after the
expiry of the 26 week leave period, with mutual consultation with the employed.

Since the Petition was filed after the amendment of Section 5, the Court directed the
state to grant maternity leave to the Petitioner as per the amended law.
 Tanuja Tolia v. State of Uttarakhand
24/07/2020

This a full bench judgment, that will now likely be treated as precedent in every court of the country. A
petition was filed by a female Aurvedic doctor, who was employed in the State Medical and Health
Services (SMHS) Uttarakhand on a contractual basis. Though her contract of employment was for one
year initially, it had been consistently renewed.

She applied for maternity leave, and was accordingly granted the same. After her maternity leave
expired, she chose to not rejoin and applied for Child Care Leave (CCL), which was denied stating that
she was a contractual employee, and therefore was not entitled to CCLs.
 Sequence of Events

The application for CCL was made pursuant to a what is knows as Government Order
(GO), which clearly stated that a CCL of 730 days was provided for only permanent
employees and not contractual employees, and formed the basis of the employer’s
refusal to grant her CCL.

The doctor then approached the High Court by way of writ, which writ was also
decided against her.

The matter was then listed under a division bench of the High Court of Uttarakhand,
where the state argued that a contractual employees’ term of employment is only a
year, and under the circumstances, it was practically impossible to grant a CCL of 730
days. If the state was to do so, then it would mean that the state would compulsorily
have to keep renewing the contract.

The Court found favor with the State’s argument and found that there were conflicting
views of different courts, and thus referred the matter to a larger bench.
 Judgment

The Court, whilst deciding the question of law, examined the history of maternity and child
care leave. It was observed that the rights of women and children are interdependent.

Many a times when a woman seeks enforcement of her rights ( such as maternity leave and
child care leave), it is really the right of a child which is being sought to be enforced. This is
also echoed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which categorically lays down
“Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, born in
or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection”.

This was taken further by the Convention of the Elimination of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW) which calls upon all nations to take appropriate measures to introduce
maternity leave with pay for all women. India is a party to both the aforesaid conventions and
as such, must inculcate these covenants into domestic law. Protection of women and
children, also finds place in the directive principles of state policy of our Constitution.
The GO which only applied to permanent employees and excluded
contractual employees, was analyzed. The Court observed, that
CCL’s real beneficiary was the child, and the mother or the father
taking the CCL were only an instrument for enforcement of the
child’s rights, and no discrimination ought to be accorded between
who is entitled to CCL, as the ultimate beneficiary remains the
same.

However, the Court was mindful of the practical difficulty faced in

giving a CCL of 730 days to a contractual employee whose term of
employment is only 365 days and thus agreed with Guwahati High
Court, which, in a separate decision had decided that in case of a
contractual employment, CCL should be granted on a pro rata basis,
but since the Guwahati High Court had failed to establish how the
“pro rata” leave was to be calculated, the bench proceeded to lay
down the calculation by way of this judgment.

The Court has now held that that an employee whose entire
employment is for one year, and if he/she fulfils other parameters
referred to in the GO, i.e. if he/she has two children of less than 18
years of age, he/she will be entitled to CCL amounting to a paid
leave of 31 days.
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