The Maternity Benefit Act, aims to regulate of employment of women employees in certain establishments for certain periods before and after child birth and provides for maternity and certain other benefits.

1. MATERNITY BENEFIT ACT 1961
Prof. Jayashree Khandare
Asst. Prof.
BVDU New Law College,
Pune

2. Meaning of maternity benefit
“ A payment (maternity allowance) made to a
pregnant women who usually works but does
not qualify for statutory pay.”
Every woman shall be entitled to, and her
employer shall be liable for, the payment of
maternity benefit, which is the amount
payable to her at the rate of the average daily
wage for the period of her actual absence.

3. Objective of maternity benefit
 It aims to regulate the employment of women
in certain periods before and after the birth of
child
 To provide for maternity benefits including
maternity leave ,wages , bonus , nursing
breaks etc.
 To protect the dignity of motherhood and the
dignity of a new person by providing for full
and healthy maintenance of the women and
her child at this important time when she is not
working.

4. Applicability of this act
 Every factory , mine or plantation
(including those belonging to government)
and
 To every shop or establishment wherein 10
or more
 persons are employed.

5. Important Definition
 Section 2(j) “Miscarriage”
Miscarriage means expulsion of the contents
of a pregnant uterus at ay period prior to or
during the twenty-sixth week of pregnancy but
does not include any miscarriage the causing
of which ins punishable under the Indian Penal
Code (45 of 1860);
 Section 2(o) “Woman”
Woman means a woman employed, whether
directly or through any agency, for wages in
any establishment.

6. Who is Entitled to Maternity Benefit
O Every woman employee, whether employed directly or through a
contractor, who has actually worked in the establishment for a
period of at least 80 days during the 12 months immediately
preceding the date of her expected delivery, is entitled to receive
maternity benefit.
O The qualifying period of 80 days shall not apply to a woman who
has immigrated into the State of Assam and was pregnant at the
time of immigration.
O For calculating the number of days on which a woman has
actually worked during the preceding 12 months, the days on
which she has been laid off or was on holidays with wages shall
also be counted.
O There is neither a wage ceiling for coverage under the Act nor
there is any restriction as regards the type of work a woman is
engaged in.

7. Condition For Clamming Benefit
 Must actually work for 80 days in 12 months
immediately preceding her date of delivery
 Should intimate the employer seven weeks
before her delivery date about the leave period
 Can take advance payment for 6 week leave
before delivery
 Can take payment for 6 week leave after child
birth within 48 hours after submitting the proof.

8. Benefits provided in this act
cash benefits
 84 days leave with pay
 A medical bonus of Rs.1,000-(As Per latest
amendment)
 An additional leave with pay up to one
month
 In case of miscarriage Six weeks leave with
average pay

9. Non cash benefits
 Light work for 10 weeks ( 6 weeks plus 1
month) before delivery
 2 Nursing breaks of 15 minutes until the
child 15 months old.
 No discharge or dismissal while on
maternity leave.

10. Leave For Miscarriage & Tubectomy Opration
 In case of miscarriage :
 Leave with wage @ of maternity benefit , for a
period of 6 weeks
 Tubectomy operation:
 Leave with wages @ of maternity benefit for a
period of 2 weeks.

11. Dismissal during absence of pregnancy
 Any discharge or dismissal of a women
during pregnancy for absence is unlawful.
 Women is entitled to maternity
benefit/medical bonus.
 In case of gross misconduct the employer in
writing can communicate her about depriving
such benefit.
 Within 60 days from date of deprivation of
maternity benefit, any women can appeal to
the authority prescribed by law.

12. Appointment of Inspectors:
The appropriate Government may, by
notification in the Official Gazette, appoint
such officers as it thinks fit to by Inspectors for
the purposes of this Act and may define the
local limits of the jurisdiction within which they
shall exercise their function under this Act.

13. Powers and duties of Inspectors
An Inspector may, subject to such restrictions or conditions as may be
prescribed, exercise all or any of the following powers, namely: -
O enter at all reasonable times with such assistants, if any, being persons in
the service of the Government or any local or other public authority as he
thinks fit, any premises or place where women are employed or work is
given to them in an establishment, for the purposes or examining any
registers, records and notices required to be kept or exhibited by or under
this Act and require their production for inspection;
O examine any person whom he finds in any premises or place and who, he
has reasonable cause to believe, is employed in the establishment:
Provided that no person shall be compelled under this section to
answer any question or give any evidence tending to incriminate
himself
O require the employer to give information regarding the names and
addresses of women employed, payments made to them, and
applications or notices received from them under this Act; and
O take copies of any registers and records or notices or any portions
thereof.

14. Duties of Employers
Important obligations of employers under the
Act are:
O To pay maternity benefit and/or medical bonus
and allow maternity leave and nursing breaks
to the woman employees, in accordance with
the provisions of the Act.
O Not to engage pregnant women in
contravention of section 4 and not to dismiss
or discharge a pregnant woman employee
during the period of maternity leave.

15. Right of Employees
Important rights of an employee are:
O To make a complaint to the Inspector and claim the
amount of maternity benefit improperly with held
by the employer.
O To appeal against an order of the employer
depriving her of the maternity benefit or medical
bonus or dismissing or discharging her from
service, to the competent authority, within 60 days
of the service of such order.

16. Penalty for contravention of act
 Imprisonment with minimum period of 3
months to maximum of 1 year
 Fine from Rs 2000 to Rs 5000.

17. Municipal Corporation of Delhi v. Female
Workers (2000) SCC 224.
In this case Union of Female Workers who were not on
regular rolls, but were treated as temporary workers and
employed on Muster roll, claimed that they should also
get maternity benefit like regular workers. The court
held that the provisions of the Act would indicate that
they are wholly in consonance with the Directive
Principles of State Policy, as set out in Article 39 and in
other Articles, especially Article 42. A woman employee,
at the time of advanced pregnancy cannot be compelled
to undertake hard labour as it would be detrimental to
her health and also to the health of the fetus. It is for this
reason that it is provided in the Act that she would be
entitled to maternity leave for certain periods prior to
and after delivery.

18. Shah vs. Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Coimbatore and others
(1977) 4 SCC 384.
The question before the Supreme Court was whether in calculating
the maternity benefit for the period covered by Section 5 Sundays
being wage less holiday should be excluded. Issues Raised before
the Courts with Reference to Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.
O The Apex Court in holding that Sundays must also be included,
applied the beneficial rule of construction in favor of the woman
worker and observed that the benefit conferred by the Act read in
the light of the Article 42 of the Constitution was intended to enable
the woman worker not only to subsist but also to make up her
dissipated energy, nurse her child, preserve her efficiency as a
worker and maintain the level of her previous efficiency and output.
O During this period she not only cannot work for her living but needs
extra income for her medical expenses. In order to enable the
woman worker to subsist during this period and to preserve her
health, the law makes a provision for maternity benefit so that the
woman can play her productive and reproductive roles efficiently.
O Performance of the biological role of child bearing necessarily
involves withdrawal of a woman from the workforce for some
period.

19. THANK YOU