THE MATERNITY BENEFIT (AMENDMENT), ACT 2017

The Ministry of Labour and Employment, has issued a Notification - S.O. 1026(E), dated 31^st March 2017, for notifying the effective dates of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017. According to the said Notification the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 shall come into force from the 1^st April, 2017. However the provision relating to Work from Home under Section 5(5) shall come into force from 1^st July, 2017

Excerpt of the Maternity Benefit (Amendment), Act 2017:

·         In Section 5(3) of the said Act, the word “twelve weeks of which not more than six weeks” shall be replaced by “twenty-six weeks of which not more than eight weeks”

This means that a woman who is eligible for maternity leave shall be entitled to twenty six weeks Maternity Leave of which not more than eight weeks leave should precede the date of her expected delivery

·           Before the first proviso of sub-section (3) of Section 5, the following proviso shall be inserted:

“Provided that the maximum period entitled to maternity benefit by a woman having two or more than two surviving children shall be twelve week of which not more than six weeks shall precede the date of her expected delivery”

·         After sub-section (3) of Section 5, sub-section (4) and sub-section (5) shall also be inserted as follows:

“(4) A woman legally adopts a child below the age of three months or commissioning mother shall be entitled to maternity benefit for a period of twelve weeks from the date the child is handed over to the adopting mother or the commissioning mother, as the case may be

(5) In case where the nature of work assigned to a woman is of such nature that she may work from home, the employer may allow her to do so after availing of the maternity benefit for such period and on such condition as the employer and the woman may mutually agree”.

Sub-section (4) of Section 5 provides for the benefits adopting and commissioning mothers as well by making them entitled to twelve weeks leave and sub-section (5) of Section 5 allows a woman to work from home  

·         There are other amendments such:

o   Insertion of sub-section (ba) in Section 3: ‘(ba) “commissioning mother” means a biological mother who uses her egg to create an embryo implanted in any other woman’

o   Insertion of Section 11A which deals with the provisions relating to crèche as follows:

“11A (1) Every establishments having fifty or more employees shall have the facility of creche within such distance as may be prescribed, either separately or along with common facility:

Provided that the employer shall allow four visits a day to the creche by the woman, which shall also include the interval for rest allowed to her

(2) Every establishment shall intimate in writing and electronically to every woman at the time of her initial appointment regarding every benefit available under the Act”