The Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 10 gave its ex-post facto approval for amendments to the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 by introducing the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill 2016
The Bill amends the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. The Act regulates the employment of women during the period of child birth, and provides maternity benefits. The Act applies to factory, mines, plantations, shops and other establishments. The Bill amends provisions related to the duration and applicability of maternity leave, and other facilities.
key changes in the Amendment?
Increase in the duration of paid maternity leave: From 12 weeks (of which not more than 6 weeks shall precede the expected date of delivery) to 26 weeks (of which not more than 8 weeks shall precede the expected date of delivery). A new provision has also been introduced, providing that a woman with two or more surviving children will receive only 12 weeks of paid maternity leave. Such a provision restricting the benefit available based on the number of children was present in a few States, under the Shops and Establishments Acts. This is now being made a part of the central legislation as well.
Surrogacy leave: Paid surrogacy leave of 12 weeks from the date when the child is handed over. This leave can only be availed by a commissioning mother who uses her egg to create an embryo to be implanted in another woman.
Adoption Leave: Paid adoption leave of 12 weeks from the date when the child is handed over, provided the child is less than 3 months old.
Work from home option: Applicable after the period of maternity leave, on such terms as may be mutually agreed to between the employer and the woman.
Creche facilities: An obligation on employers with 50 or more employees to provide crèche facilities to women. While an earlier draft of the Amendment had proposed the distance from the workplace to the crèche to be one kilometer or less, the Amendment simply states that it will be as prescribed. We would need to wait for a subsequent government notification in this regard. The Amendment also does not make it explicit whether the crèche facility can be provided on a chargeable basis to employees or whether the facility has to be provided free of charge. Further, the Amendment also permits four visits per day to the crèche, which shall also include the interval of rest allowed to the woman employee. This appears to be in addition to the two nursing breaks that the MB Act already permits till the child is of 15 months of age.
Obligation to notify: An obligation on employers to inform (in writing and electronically) to every woman newly appointed within the organization about the benefits available under the MB Act.
Provisions which remains unchanged?
Several provisions of the MB Act remain unchanged. This includes the eligibility criteria for receiving maternity benefit under the MB Act. A woman who has worked for at least 80 days in the 12 months immediately preceding her expected date of delivery will continue to be eligible. Further, an employer will continue to be prohibited from employing a woman for a period of six weeks immediately following her delivery, miscarriage or a medical termination of pregnancy. In addition, while there were discussions in the Rajya Sabha on the idea of introducing parental leave, it did not result in any changes to the Amendment. Therefore, the statute will continue to deal with only maternity leave.
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