Extension On Maternity Leave For Employees Already On Leave?

1. Sir, the publication of any amendment/ new law enacted and enforced in the Gazette Notification of the appropriate Govt. itself is a valid proof accepted by all courts/tribunals. Once a gazette notification is issued, every body / general public is supposed to know the contents of the same. The Govt.(Labour Department) is not required to send any papers to individual factories/units regarding changes in law, procedure etc. etc. since the same are published in the official Gazette of the appropriate government. The contention of the employer that they have not received any communication from labour department or any other govt. agency , in my opinion, appears to be not valid and is only an excuse to deny the benefits to the needy and eligible woman employees.

2. But the main question at this stage regarding payment of maternity leave after 12 weeks to 26 weeks as per amended law is whether the claimant woman employee has obtained medical fitness certificate from authorised medical officer before joining her duties ? If so, how she can now claim extension of her maternity benefit after 12 weeks when she has now been medical declared fit and joined her duties ?

If you were denied the leave, and were forced to rejoin, the company is liable to give you remaining paid leave or give you monetary compensation equal to the paid leave denied. Whether to exercise and how, you need to follow the decision tree given by Divekar sir

One of the mandatory requirements of this new amendment is that it has to be socialised to all women employees and also displayed in the notice board prominently. You could raise this point with HR. I guess you have enough points now to take up the matter. Ensure that everything is in writing. Like Dinesh has mentioned, follow the protocol of first going to the head of HR. And keep us posted about the outcome.

Thanks for the clarification,I had to join office as there was no clarification from HR.I am not aware if any medical certificate is needed of fitness before joining Office after Maternity Leaves.I am fighting for leaves not because I am unfit medically,I am doing so as I don't want to deny my child of breast feeding

I had meeting with Labour Compliance team of my organisation and I was advised that organisation has not received notarised amendment from labour department hence they are not liable to amend policy.I was advised that I can go to court if I want however organisation will fight as press notification is not legally binding on them

There are two options,
a) Ask your labour compliance team to get a legal opinion.
b) Take it up with the statutory authorities.
The fact that your company has been willing to discuss this matter, shows that they are open. Hence, it should be easy to convince them to get a legal opinion..

Your office compliance team is a bunch of idiots
Any joker who claims that the government press note is not enforceable or that they have not got a notarised copy of the amendment should not be holding that post.
It seems only option you have is to,file a complaint with the labour commissioner of your area. A showcause by him to the MD will probably make them turn their tails and run

Thanks for everyone's support .I giving up my fight for extension of my leaves.Its sheer apathy of organisation and carelessness of government in not notifying organisations correctly which is impacting people like me.Read a similar case in a newspaper where a school teacher in Delhi has filed court case as she was also denied her rights and high court has issued notice to State and Central Government as she was also informed that Government has not issued Legal Notification and case is up for hearing on 9 th October

It will too late for me as my six months period will end in August.Organisations would take all the time in the world to celebrate Mother's day but cannot give leaves to a Mother which is her right.Thanks everyone for support

This discussion helped me put my case strongly across to management however I can't go to Labour Commissioner as it will not be anonymous and I don't want to spoil my career.It feels so helpless to bear all this..

That's sad. Even if you give up your fight, for the sake of fairplay and equity to your colleagues, I would suggest to send a letter to the labour commissioner that the MB act has not been socialised to the lady employees. You can remain anonymous. The labour department will pull them up and by default, you could benefit, since the moment its socialised, you could put up your claim.

Strictly speaking you are eligible. By the time the amendment is effected and you were still in maternity leave you have the liberty to utilise the same. Because you have joined, which means that you have become fit for work and therefore, it need not necessary to provide additional leave to you by the management. If in any case you were required to extend the leave before joining into your duties on the grounds of ill health this would have been a boon to you to to extend for the remaining period. According to the recent notification of GOI the extension was applicable since 1-4-2017 and this is applicable to those who were already in such leave and not yet joined in their duties. Since your prenatal period was earlier to the notification you are eligible only to the post natal period of 13 weeks. Out of which you have already utilised 6 weeks as per old system. Now you regret that you have lost the seven weeks of he second half. A little delay is occurred, which made your management to take sideways in your case. If you raise a dispute before a labour department quasi-judicial authority there may be chances of your win but it may be at the cost of your job. At least now try to get a medical certificate from the concerned doctor or from ESI, if your establishment is covered under ESI, for extension of leave on the grounds of recurrence of problem....kesavapanda@gmail.com.