Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, which provides for paid maternity leave to women workers and creche facility by establishments being implemented

Code on Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions (OSH), 2020 has special provision relating to employment of women

13 FEB 2023

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Shri Rameswar Teli in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today informed that the Ministry of Labour and Employment is implementing the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, as amended vide the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, which, inter-alia, provides for paid maternity leave to women workers and crèche facility by establishments. Vide Section 5 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, as amended in 2017, the Government has increased paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks of which not more than eight weeks shall precede the date of expected delivery. Depending upon the nature of work assigned to a woman, the Section 5(5) of the Act provides for work from home for such period and on such conditions as the employer and the woman may mutually agree.

CENTRAL CIVIL SERVICES CCS (LEAVE) RULES 1972 – UPDATED AS ON 19.09.2022 – DoPT

Shri Teli said that the Government has taken various steps to improve women’s participation in the labour force and quality of their employment. The Code on Social Security, 2020 has the provisions for enhancement of paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks, provision for mandatory creche facility in the establishments having 50 or more employees, permitting women workers in the night shifts with adequate safety measures, etc.

In the written reply it was stated that the Code on Occupational Safety, Health & Working Conditions (OSH), 2020 has special provision relating to employment of women. As per this, women shall be entitled to be employed in all establishments for all types of work, with their consent, before 6 a.m. and beyond 7 p.m. subject to conditions relating to safety, holidays and working hours or any other conditions to be observed by the employer as may be prescribed by the appropriate Government.

Further, to enhance the employability of female workers, the Government is providing training to them through a network of Women Industrial Training institutes, National Vocational Training Institutes and Regional Vocational Training Institutes.

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Latest DoPT Orders 2022

No.13018/1/2021 -Estt.(L)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Department of Personnel and Training
(Estt. -Leave Section)

Old JNU Campus, New Delhi
Dated the 2nd September, 2022

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Grant of 60 days Special Maternity Leave in case of death of a child soon after birth / stillbirth – regarding.

This Department has been receiving several references/ queries requesting for clarification pertaining to grant of leave / maternity leave in case of death of a child soon after birth/Stillbirth. The matter has been considered in consultation with Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Keeping in view the potential emotional trauma caused due to stillbirth or death of a child soon after birth, which has a far-reaching impact on the mother’s life, it has now been decided to grant a Special Maternity Leave of 60 days to a female Central Government servant in case of death of a child soon after birth / stillbirth on the following conditions;

• In case a Maternity Leave has already been availed by a female Central Government servant and her leave continues till the date of expiry of child soon after birth / stillbirth, the maternity leave already availed till death of the child may be converted into any other kind of leave available in her leave account without insisting for a medical certificate and a Special Maternity Leave of 60 days may be granted from the date of expiry of child soon after birth / Stillbirth.
• In case the maternity leave has not been availed by a female Central Government servant, 60 days of Special Maternity Leave may be granted from the date of expiry of child soon after birth / stillbirth.
• The condition for death of a child soon after birth may be defined as up to 28 days after birth.
• A baby born with no signs of life at or after 28 weeks of gestation may be defined as Stillbirth.
• The benefit of Special Maternity Leave shall be admissible only to a female Central Government servant with less than 2 surviving children and for child delivery only in an authorized hospital.
• “Authorized Hospital” is defined as Government Hospital or Private Hospital empanelled under Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS). In case of emergency delivery in non-empanelled private hospital, production of emergency certificate is mandatory.

3. These orders shall be applicable to Government employees appointed to the civil services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union of India in terms of Rule 2 of the CCS (Leave) Rules 1972 with effect from the date of issue of this O.M. The past cases, wherever settled in respective Ministries / Departments need not be reopened.

(Sunil Kumar)
Under Secretary to the Government of India

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Maternity Benefit Rules 2019

MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT

NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 29th January, 2019

G.S.R. 57(E).- Whereas a draft of certain rules further to amend the Maternity Benefit (Mines and Circus) Rules 1963, among other rules, were published as required by sub-section (1) of section 28 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (53 of 1961), in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, sub-section (i) vide notification of the Government of India in the Ministry of Labour and Employment number G.S.R. 413(E), dated the 23rd April, 2018, inviting objections and suggestions from all persons likely to be affected thereby, within a period of three months, from the date on which copies of Official Gazette containing the said notification were made available to the public;

And whereas copies of the said Official Gazette were made available to the general public on the 23rd April, 2018; And whereas the objections and suggestions received on the said draft rules from the public have been considered by the Central Government;

Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 28 of the said Act, the Central Government hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Maternity Benefit (Mines and Circus) Rules, 1963, namely:-

1. These rules may be called the Maternity Benefit (Mines and Circus) Amendment Rules, 2019.
2. They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

2. In the Maternity Benefit (Mines and Circus) Rules, 1963, for rule 16, the following rule shall be substituted, namely: –

‘16. Annual return.- (1) The employer of every mine or circus shall, on or before the 1st day of February in each year, upload a unified annual return in Form X online on the web portal of the Central Government in the Ministry of Labour and Employment, giving information as to the particulars specified, in respect of the preceding year:

Provided that during inspection, the inspector may require the production of accounts, books, register and other documents maintained in electronic form or otherwise

Explanation.- For the purposes of this sub-rule, the expression “electronic form” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (r) of section 2 of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000).

(2) If the employer of a mine or circus to which the Act applies sells, abandons or discontinues the working of the mine or circus, then, he shall, within one month of the date of such sale or abandonment or four months of the date of such discontinuance, as the case may be, upload online, on the web portal of the Central Government in the Ministry of Labour and Employment, a further unified return in Form X referred to in sub-rule (1) in respect of the period between the end of the preceding year and the date of the sale, abandonment or discontinuance.’

No. Z-20025/23/2018-LRC]
MANISH KUMAR GUPTA, Jt. Secy.

Note: The Maternity Benefit (Mines and Circus) Rules, 1963 was published in the Gazette of India vide notification number G.S.R.1642, dated the 5th October, 1963 and lastly amended vide notification number G.S.R.435(E) dated the 29th May, 2015.

Source: labour.gov.in

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Ministry of Labour & Employment
Creche Facilities for Employees

11 FEB 2019

The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 is enforced and implemented by the respective State Governments in all sectors except in the Mines and Circus Industries. As per the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, it has been made mandatory for the establishments employing 50 or more employees to provide creche facility, either separately or along with common facilities within a prescribed distance. Time to time, advisories are issued to State Governments for strict enforcement and compliance of the provisions of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. Government does not maintain data of defaulters centrally. Implementation of provisions relating to nursing breaks are also enforced by State Governments, except in case of mines and circus.

This information was given by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar Union Minister of State (I/C) for Labour and Employment in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

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02 JAN 2019

Government is working on an Incentive Scheme wherein seven weeks wages shall be reimbursed to employers who employ women workers and provide the maternity benefit of 26 weeks paid leave, as provided for in the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017.

To enable an entity to avail of the incentive, the women employees working in their entity should be a wage earner of less than Rs.15,000/- per month and a member of Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) for at least one year and not covered by Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).

A meeting of Stakeholders’ Consultation with representatives of concerned Central Ministries, State Governments, Employers’, Employees’ etc. was held on 14.11.2018 to discuss the matter. The Scheme was supported by and large with the majority of stakeholders.

The scheme is proposed to be administered after obtaining the approval of the competent authorities. The Incentive is proposed to be funded from the budgetary allocations. Government has not made any allocation for the scheme during the current financial year.

This information was given by Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State (I/C) for Labour and Employment in written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

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NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 11th December, 2018

G.S.R. 1209(E).- In exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to article 309 read with clause (5) of article 148 of the Constitution and after consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in relation to persons serving in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, the President hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1972, namely:-

1. (1) These rules may be called the Central Civil Services (Leave) (Fourth Amendment) Rules, 2018.

(2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.

2. In the Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1972,

(A) in rule 28, in sub-rule (1) for clauses (a), (b) and (c), the following clauses shall be substituted, namely:-

“(a) The leave account of every Government servant (other than a military officer) who is serving in a Vacation Department shall be credited with earned leave, in advance’ in two installments of five days each on the first day of January and July of every calendar year.

(b) In respect of any year in which a Government Servant avails a portion of the vacation, he shall be entitled to additional earned leave in such proportion of twenty days, as the number of days of vacation not taken bears to the full vacation, provided the total earned leave credited shall not exceed thirty days in a calendar year.

(c) If, in any year, the Government servant does not avail any vacation, earned leave will be as per Rule 26 instead of clauses (a) and (b).”;

(B) in rule 29, for sub-rule (1), the following sub-rule shall be substituted, namely:—

“(1) The half pay leave account of every Government servant (other than a military officer and a Government servant serving in a Vacation Department) shall be credited with half pay leave in advance, in two installments of ten days each on the first day of January and July of every calendar year.”;

(C) in rule 43-C. (a) for sub-rule (1), the following sub-rule shall be substituted, namely”;

“(1) Subject to the provisions of this rule, a female Government servant and single male Government servant may be granted child care leave by an authority competent to grant leave for a maximum period of seven hundred and thirty days during entire service for taking care of two eldest surviving children, whether for rearing or for looking after any of their needs, such as education, sickness and the like.” ;

(b) for sub-rules (3) and (4), the following sub-rules shall be substituted, namely:-

“(3) Grant of child care leave to a female Government servant and a single male Government servant under sub-rule (1) shall be subject to the following conditions, namely:-

(i) it shall not be granted for more than three spells in a calendar year;

(ii) in case of a single female Government servant, the grant of leave in three spells in a calendar year shall be extended to six spells in a calendar year.

(iii) it shall not ordinarily be granted during the probation period except in case of certain extreme situations where the leave sanctioning authority is satisfied about the need of child care leave to the probationer, provided that the period for which such leave is sanctioned is minimal.

(iv) child care leave may not be granted for a period less than five days at a time.

(4) During the period of child care leave, a female Government servant and a single male Government servant shall be paid one hundred percent of the salary for the first three hundred and sixty five days, and at eighty percent of the salary for the next three hundred and sixty five days.

Explanation.-Single Male Government Servant‘ means – an unmarried or widower or divorcee Government servant.”;

(D) for rule 44, the following rule shall be substituted, namely:-

“44. Work Related Illness and Injury Leave:-

The authority competent to grant leave may grant Work Related Illness and Injury Leave ( herein after referred to as WRIIL) to a Government servant (whether permanent or temporary), who suffers illness or injury that is attributable to or aggravated in the performance of her or his official duties or in consequence of her or his official position subject to the provisions contained in sub-rule (1) of rule 19 of these rules, on the following conditions, namely :

(1) Full pay and allowances shall be granted to all employees during the entire period of hospitalisation on account of WRIIL.

(2) Beyond hospitalization, WRIIL shall be governed as follows:
(a) A Government servant (other than a military officer) full pay and allowances for the six months immediately following hospitalisation and Half Pay for twelve months beyond the said period of six months. The Half Pay period may be commuted to full pay with corresponding number of days of Half Pay Leave debited from the employees leave account.

(b) For officers of Central Armed Police Forces full pay and allowances for six months immediately following the hospitalisation and full pay only for the next twenty four months.

(c) For personnel below the rank of officer of the Central Armed Police Forces full pay and allowances, with no limit regarding period.

(3) In the case of persons to whom the Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923 applies, the amount of leave salary payable under WRIIL shall be reduced by the amount of compensation paid under the Act.

(4) No Earned Leave or Half Pay Leave shall be credited during the period that employee is on WRIIL.”.

(E) rules 45 and 46 shall be omitted.

[F. No. 11020/01/2017 -Estt(L)]
GYANENDRA DEV TRIPATHI Jt. Secy.

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UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 3884
ANSWERED ON: 19.03.2018

Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act

RAJENDRA AGRAWAL

MALLIKARJUN KHARGE

Will the Minister of LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT be pleased to state:-

(a)whether majority of the women in the country are not able to avail maternity leave under the Maternity Benefits Act, 2017 due to their working in the unorganized sector and if so, the details thereof;

(b)whether the Government is considering any proposal to include women working in the unorganized sector to enable them to avail the benefits under the Act, and if so, the details thereof;

(c)whether the Government is anticipating decline in rate of labour force participation of female population due to discriminatory hiring practices by the employers in order to prevent maternity benefits available under the said Act; and

(d)if so, the details thereof along with the corrective steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (IC) FOR LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT (SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR)

(a) & (b): No, Madam. Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 is applicable to establishments employing 10 or more women irrespective of whether it is organised or unorganised sector.

(c) & (d): No, Madam. The Government is of the opinion that with enforcement of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, more and more women workers would be inclined to seek employment which will lead to increase in women labour participation rate. There are stringent provisions under the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 for prevention of discriminatory practices against women work force.

Source: Lok Sabha

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The ministry has written to all central government departments about a 2015 Delhi High Court order on this issue.

Central government’s women employees, whose children are born through surrogacy, will now be entitled to maternity leave, according to an official order of the personnel ministry.

The employees can avail of paid maternity leaves up to 26 weeks (about 180 days).

The ministry has written to all central government departments about a 2015 Delhi High Court order on this issue.

“All ministries / departments are advised to give wide publicity of its contents to the concerned officers,” the personnel ministry said in its latest directive to all the ministries and enclosed a copy of the court’s order with it.

The court verdict had come on a plea by a Kendriya Vidyalaya teacher who had twins through surrogacy but was denied maternity leave as she was not the biological mother.

“A female employee, who is the commissioning mother, would be entitled to apply for maternity leave,” the court had held.

Based on material placed before it, the competent authority would decide on the timing and the period for which maternity leave ought to be granted to a commissioning mother who adopts the surrogacy route, the court said.

The scrutiny would be keener and detailed, when leave is sought by a female employee, who is the commissioning mother, at the pre-natal stage, it said.

In case maternity leave is declined at the pre-natal stage, the competent authority would pass a reasoned order having regard to the material, if any, placed before it, by the female employee, who seeks to avail maternity leave, the court order said.

In a situation where both the commissioning mother and the surrogate mother are employees, who are otherwise eligible for leave (one on the ground that she is a commissioning mother and the other on the ground that she is the pregnant women), suitable adjustment would be made by the competent authority, it said.

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No.13018/6/2013 -Estt.(L)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Department of Personnel & Training

JNU Old Campus, New Delhi
Dated 29 January, 2018

OFFICE MEMORANDUM

Subject: Writ Petition No.844/2014 in the High Court of Delhi filed by Ms. Rama Pandey, Teacher, Kendriya Vidyalaya V/s UoI & Others – reg.

The undersigned is directed to enclose herewith Hon’ ble High Court of Delhi’s Order dated 17th July, 2015 in the Writ Petition No.844/2014 in the High Court of Delhi filed by Ms. Rama Pandey, Teacher, Kendriya Vidyalaya V/s UoI & Others.

2. All Ministries/Departments are advised to give wide publicity of its contents to the concerned officers.

3. This issues with the approval of Secretary (P).

(Sandeep Saxena)
Under Secretary to the Govt. of India

As per standard mailing list.
Copy to:
NIC, DOPT – for uploading on the website.

12.4 Rule 43, which makes provision for maternity, for the sake of convenience, is extracted herein below:

“…43. Maternity Leave :

(1) A female Government servant (including an apprentice) with less than two surviving children may be granted maternity leave by an authority competent to grant leave for a period of (180 day’s) from the date of its commencement.

(2) During such period, she shall be paid leave salary equal to the pay drawn immediately before proceeding on leave. NOTE :- In the case of a person to whom Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948 (34 of 1948), applies, the amount of leave salary payable under this rule shall be reduced by the amount of benefit payable under the said Act for the corresponding period.

(3) Maternity leave not exceeding 45 days may also be granted to a female  Government servant (irrespective of the number of surviving children) during the entire service of that female Government in case of miscarriage including abortion on production of medical certificate as laid down in Rule 19: ‘Provided that the maternity leave granted and availed of before the commencement of the CCS(Leave) Amendment Rules, 1995, shall not be taken into account for the purpose of this sub-rule’.

(4) (a) Maternity leave may be combined with leave of any other kind. (b)  Notwithstanding the requirement of production of medical certificate contained in sub-rule (1) of Rule 30 or sub-rule (1) of Rule 31, leave of the kind due and admissible (including commuted leave for a period not exceeding 60 days and leave not due) up to a maximum of one year may, if applied for, be granted in continuation of maternity leave granted under sub-rule (1).

(5) Maternity leave shall not be debited against the leave account…”

Read More: DoPT-Orders-2018

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Government to Increase Maternity Leave from 12 to 26 weeks – The International Labour Organisation recommends a minimum standard maternity leave of 14 weeks or more.

The union government is set to increase the maternity leave for women employed in private firms from the existing 12 weeks to 26 weeks.

Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi Monday said the Ministry of Labour has agreed to increase maternity leave to six-and-a-half months. “We had written to the Labour Ministry asking that the maternity leave be extended taking into account the six months of breastfeeding that is required post childbirth. The Labour Ministry has agreed to increase it to six-and-a-half months,” said Maneka.

The Ministry of Labour is expected to amend the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, which presently entitles women to 12 weeks of maternity benefit whereby employers are liable to pay full wages for the period of leave.

Officials of the WCD Ministry said they will push for extending the leave to eight months, or 32 weeks, for women employed in both private and government sectors.

But WCD officials said the Labour Ministry has expressed reservations about increasing the maternity leave any further as they perceive that doing so will adversely affect the employability of women.

“The Labour Ministry has decided on six-and-a-half months following meetings with various stakeholders. We, however, feel that eight months of maternity leave — for women in government as well as private sectors — is required. We will move a note to the Cabinet Secretariat in this regard. Six months of exclusive breastfeeding is very important to combat malnutrition, diarrhoea and other diseases in infants and to lower infant mortality rate,” said a WCD official.

The International Labour Organisation recommends a minimum standard maternity leave of 14 weeks or more, though it encourages member states to increase it to at least 18 weeks. At 26 weeks, India is set to join the league of 42 countries where maternity leave exceeds 18 weeks. It, however, falls behind several East European, Central Asian and Scandinavian countries, which have the most generous national legislation for paid maternity leave.

Women employed in government jobs in India get a six-month maternity leave as per the Central Civil Service (Leave) Rules 1972. The last circular in this regard was issued in 2008, when it was increased from four-and-a-half months. If the WCD Ministry’s recommendations to the Cabinet Secretariat are accepted, the Department of Personal & Training will have to issue orders to enhance it to eight months.

Moreover, women government employees are allowed to take childcare leave of up to two years in phases at any point till their child turns 18 years old. The Seventh Pay Commission recently recommended that only the first 365 days of leave should be granted with full pay, while the remaining 365 can be availed at 80 per cent of the salary. But Maneka recently petitioned Finance Minister Arun Jaitley against the proposal, terming it a regressive step at a time when women are trying to become more economically independent.

“Women in India need longer maternity leave in absence of any support in parenting from men. It should not be seen as a deduction in labour hours but as a long-term investment from the future economic point of view. This is in addition to the fact that women need long maternity leave to recuperate and invest in child care,” said Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research.

She added that a recent analysis of the Maternity Benefit Act by CSR for the National Commission of Women showed that discrimination against pregnant women was widely prevalent in the corporate sector in the country.

Source: gconnect.in

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