Maternity Leave Calculation - Paid Leaves

If an employee is a design engineer, is maternity paid leave calculated based on the Cost to Company (CTC) per month? Is it full paid leave?

Bhaumik Modi - Baroda

As per the Maternity Benefit Act 1961, "wages" means all remuneration paid or payable in cash to a woman, if the terms of the contract of employment, express or implied, were fulfilled and includes:
(1) such cash allowances (including dearness allowance and house rent allowance) as a woman is for the time being entitled to;
(2) incentive bonus; and
(3) the money value of the concessional supply of food grains and other articles,
but does not include:
(i) any bonus other than incentive bonus;
(ii) overtime earnings and any deduction or payment made on account of fines;
(iii) any contribution paid or payable by the employer to any pension fund or provident fund or for the benefit of the woman under any law for the time being in force; and
(iv) any gratuity payable on the termination of service.

Basic=9000
HRA=3600
Travel allowance=800
Education allowance=800
Medical reimbursement=1250
Special allowance=9020
LTA=1000
Total=25470 per month

Will all these components be counted towards maternity paid leave?

Thanks for your reply, PON and HARSHAD.

If she is entitled to 56 days of maternity leave, then how much should she be paid? If the cost to company (CTC) per month is 25470, will it be calculated as:

25470 X 56/26
or
25470 X 56/30
or
25470 X 56/31

Quick reply is needed as we have a meeting with company management today.

Dear Bhaumik,

You have to pay six weeks' average pay before the delivery and six weeks' average pay after delivery.

As far as the number of days in months is concerned, you have to consider the days within which the month is comprised. In this case, you can consider the number of days as 30, as we generally use 30 days throughout the year for calculating overtime for workers. So, here you can consider it as a general case.

Regards,
Amit

Dear Mr. Amit,

Mr. Pon has been saying 30.41 days, but generally, we are divided by 30 days. Is it correct? Kindly give your opinion to solve our problem.

Thanks,
Sameer K. Ghosh

The practice differs from company to company. The act suggests full payment for 12 weeks, translating to 84 days. Now, how you calculate 84 days differs from company to company. This includes weekly offs and Sundays or excludes weekly offs and Sundays. However, the amount to be paid in full as she was present and working.

Maternity leave details have to be defined in the leave policy, as rules will vary from company to company. However, as per the law, maternity leave will not be more than 90 days.

The payment value for the 90 days will be calculated based on the employee's basic salary only. ESIC employees are not paid by the company; they will need to claim from ESIC.

Furthermore, my wife is entitled to 56 days of maternity leave. The company had previously agreed to the payment for the 56 days of leave and has already paid Rs 43,542 for the same. However, since my wife left the company on the 1st of March, they have not yet cleared her salary for the 12 days she worked in February. Additionally, they have not settled her leave, bonus, and other outstanding dues.

Now, they are claiming that they overpaid for the maternity leave and will adjust it in the final settlement. They argue that according to the Maternity Act, only Basic Salary, Dearness Allowance (DA), and House Rent Allowance (HRA) will be considered, and the rest will not be included.

My question is, how can they suddenly claim an overpayment for maternity leave during the settlement process? They provided Rs 43,542 based on the Cost to Company (CTC), which is actually lower than the CTC amount.

Is there any legal provision that prevents an employer from withholding an employee's salary? Please advise on how we should proceed further.

Dear Sirs,

Assuming that the Maternity Benefit Act is applicable to the establishment and the employee in question, the following extract of the judgment of the Honourable Supreme Court of India is applicable in deciding the quantum of maternity benefit.

The Honourable Supreme Court in B. Shah vs Labour Court and others reported in 1977 (35) FLR 414 has held that computation of maternity benefit has to be made for all the days including Sundays and rest days which may be wageless holidays comprised in the actual period of absence of the woman extending up to six weeks preceding and including the date of delivery as also for all the days falling within the six weeks immediately following the day of delivery thereby ensuring that the woman worker gets for the said period not only the amount equalling 100 percent of the wages which she was previously earning in terms of section 3(n) of the Act but also the benefit of the wages for all the Sundays and rest days falling within the aforesaid two periods which would ultimately be conducive to the interest of both the woman worker and her employer.

Dear Mr. Bhaumik,

You should send a written complaint through registered post, with acknowledgment due, to the Inspector of Factories regarding the non-payment of your dues. If he does not respond, follow up by submitting a petition under the Right to Information Act, requesting him to provide written details on the action taken in response to the complaint. If he claims that the employee is not covered by the Payment of Wages Act, you can file a petition with the assistance of a competent lawyer before the Government/Labour Court to obtain a certificate allowing the recovery of the outstanding amount as arrears of land revenue from the employer.

Please let me know if you need any further assistance.

Thank you.

Dear Sir,

As per the Maternity Benefit Act, she is eligible for maternity leave for 84 days (12 weeks). She can avail of 6 weeks before delivery and 6 weeks after delivery. Additionally, she can only claim 84 days after delivery. She is entitled to full salary as maternity benefit. The calculation is straightforward. For example, if she takes maternity leave from 01/01/2011 for a period of 84 days, she will receive full salary for the months of January, February (31 + 28 + 25 = 84), and for the month of March, she will receive 25 days' salary (total salary divided by 31, as March has 31 days).

I believe the calculation is accurate.

N. Lokanadha Babu, Manager-HR

Who is the concerned authority or whom to contact to make a complaint regarding the Maternity Benefit Act - the Labour office, Factory Inspector, or the region?

But is this as per Maternity Act calculation. Please tell me how to calculate this benefit if she is covered under ESIC.

Dear Member,

We are to contact the Inspecting Officer of the area. Under Section 14 of this Act, the appropriate Government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint such officers as it thinks fit to be the Inspectors for the purposes of this Act and may define the local limits of jurisdiction within which they shall exercise their functions under this Act. Therefore, approach the labor department of the area to find out the concerned authority for making a complaint for non-compliance of the M B Act, 1961, and the rules made thereunder.

R.N.KHOLA
(M) 09810405361

[Quote by bhaumik_modi;1556493]
Who is the concerned authority to contact or make a complaint regarding the Maternity Benefit Act - Labor office, Factory Inspector, or the region?