Maternity Termination

Hi,
Now I am pregnant, with 3 months suddenly my HR told me that my performance was low and asking me to quit.
I am taking leave 2-4 days month as it is my 3rd month.
Before that one of my teammate was also pregnant (1 month) and she asked for leave, HR asked to quit the company and she quit.
My company probation period was 1 year and am serving 6 month in company.
Please advice...

Hi,
1.Now you are in probation period so they may terminate you, as per clause mentioned in your appointment letter.
2. Due to maternity reason if they will say you to quit that not good practice of HR.

Interesting ......
The legal stand point is this :
You are under probation.
So it's their choice whether they confirm or terminate you.
They are giving you a choice of resigning so you get a clean exit.
However, the maternity benefit act applies to you, so the company is liable to give you salary for 12 weeks as per the act.
Based on limited information available (may be your are actually inefficient, we don't know the basis of the assessment) this is not a good company to work with. So, ask them to give your maternity benefit wages and final settlement of pending dues and leave.

Dear Jas,
If you have completed more than 180 days in the organisation and than the company cannot ask you to leave for maternity reasons.
But as you are on probation and if they can prove in writing that your performance is unsatisfactory, than they can terminate you or ask you to resign.
In any case, the company is too cheap to continue working with.... Its just giving an politically correct answer to avoid any maternity costs.... Don't waste your time for just cheap companies.
Regards,
Ashutosh Thakre

Hi all, Thank you for the replies...
Am already having 4.5 yrs exp in the industry, Now i have switched over to this new company before 6 months.
Also reg my performance they haven't intimated me, suddenly they called me and asked me quit...
Also, I haven't signed any HR policies, they gave me only offer letter, if my performance is not good they should be intimated be before (in which am low with performance).
Also, after hearing this I got little bit stressed and don't know what to do, salary is important to run the family these days...
Please advice.

what about appointment letter? is it given to you or not? if no then you will have to prove that you are employee of the company by the way of pay slips, bank statements, other letters etc.

They can not terminate you during pregnancy. they will have to prove that your performance is not good. they will have to give you chance to improve on your performance. if it is written in appointment letter that they can terminate you at any time during Probation then also they will have to give you all benefits under the maternity Benefit act. because performance and maternity benefit are separate things.

(2) (a) The discharge or dismissal of a woman at any time during her pregnancy, if the woman but for such discharge or dismissal would have been entitled to maternity benefit or medical bonus referred to in section 8, shall not have the effect of depriving her of the maternity benefit or medical bonus:



Provided that where the dismissal is for any prescribed gross misconduct, the employer may, by order in writing communicated to the woman, deprive her of the maternity benefit or medical bonus or both.

Performance related problem is not a gross misconduct. and so they can not deprive you from maternity benefit.



[2*[(b) Any woman deprived of maternity benefit or medical bonus,or both, or discharged or dismissed during or on account of her absence from work in accordance with the provisions of this Act, may,within sixty days from the date on which order of such deprivation or discharge or dismissal is communicated to her, appeal to such authority as may be prescribed, and the decision of that authority on such appeal, whether the woman should or should not be deprived of maternity benefit or medical bonus, or both,or discharged or dismissed shall be final.]

appellate authority for this act is Inspectors of Labour and Regional Deputy Commissioners of Labour.

Mr Ashuthosh
In which law the provision of 180 days is mentioned?
Varghese Mathew
09961266966

It is 80 days, Ashuthosh.

Now, coming to legality of termination, you can defend the termination only if there termination letter states the reason for termination. That is, when the appointment order says that "during probation your services shall be terminated 'without assigning any reason' and without notice", then what should be checked is whether they have given the letter of termination with reason for termination, ie, poor performance. In such cases only you have the right to ask for evaluation and relevant papers and, on the other hand, if the termination letter simply states that "following clause....of your contract of employment with us, your services stand terminated with effect from...." then you have no other way, because the termination is without any reason and that is permissible during probation period. When you give a reason, naturally, the employer should have conducted an enquiry and the reasons should be known to you in advance, you should be given opportunities to defend the charges (of poor performance) etc.

Now practical issues: If you view from the HR side, will it be congenial to take employment and after a few months take long leave on the ground of sickness or maternity reasons? I don't think yes. If you have more than 4 years of experience, be confident to get another job after your delivery and when you feel yourself to be okay to take up employment elsewhere.

Madhu.T.K

Dear All

The Maternity Leave or Benefits and Termination on Probation Period are two different concept. Please be very clear on these issues. If the management or HR is terminating the employee on the reason of Maternity it is unfair labour practices. If a woman employee completed 80 working days Maternity Benefit either under ESI or Maternity Act 1961 should be allowed and Termination under any clause or form is illegal. This can refered to Labour Officer or legal action can be taken. However, i would like to say that as mentioned by some of the contributing members on this subject matter this shows the Employer's mean nature and attitude towards their employees. Sometimes the Management may not have knowledge on this matter. You represent to your Management people. It is better that you one should take a decision consciously i.e not to be or to fight it as it is a Labour Law which has constitutional obligation/right. Similarly, if they proved your performance in writing you have to have it and it is very unfortunate but what I said holds good in the 3rd sentence above.

V.Murali

First of all let the forum know the whether you intimidated your employer about your proceeding Maternity Leave, secondly whether this issue of non performance thereafter or before. Last but not the least also let us know whether your employer has issued a show cause notice or warning letter with regards to your poor performance, to give you an appropriate view.