Can the resignation be reversed by the employer if a female employee gets pregnant during the notice period?

Can the resignation be reversed by the employer if a female employee gets pregnant during the notice period? Especially in the case when she was already pregnant (unknowingly) before the date of resignation. Moreover, she has been asked to tender her resignation due to the uncertain impact of the pandemic on the business.

Thank you for your help and guidance.

Dear Ankur Mehra,

A female employee, when she becomes pregnant, is expected to notify her employer about her pregnancy. This notification could be in the form of a certificate from an ESI doctor or a certified gynecologist. The notice should specify the date from which she will be absent from work, which should not be earlier than six weeks from the expected delivery date.

In the situation at hand, it is likely that the female employee submitted her letter of resignation before disclosing her pregnancy. Therefore, precedence must be given to what occurred first. By the time of her delivery or even the start of her maternity leave, she may no longer be an employee of the company. Hence, the question of granting maternity leave does not arise.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar

Dear Ankur Mehra,

Your last statement adds the flavor of coercion by the employer to compel the employee to resign from her job. In such a situation, the prospective resignation, i.e., the resignation being effective from a future date, can be withdrawn at any time before the effective date despite her serving the notice period. Of course, there are judgments that after the acceptance of resignation by the employer and alternative arrangements having been made to replace the vacancy, the employee cannot be permitted to withdraw his/her resignation during the notice period if so prescribed in the contract of employment or service regulations.

Therefore, the employee can withdraw her resignation in view of her pregnancy known to her later.