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PHello everyone!
I am 6 months pregnant and my due date is in May. I was planning to avail my maternity leave from April. As per my doctor’s advice, I had been working from home for the last 5 months. Last week I emailed and inquired about maternity leave and benefits. Firstly, neither my manager nor the HR responded. My manager finally called back yesterday and said that she will have a word with the HR. Now this HR woman called me up today and said, as a female, I will ask you to voluntarily resign.
I told her that I am only inquiring about the leaves and am not looking for any benefits (had to say to get her to speak) I then told her that I will be going on leave sometime in April and plan to continue working till then.
She said she’ll get back to me tomorrow. What to do? It is a company with more than 10 employees, and I am a contractual employee. -
SWorking from home for 5 months? Thoda jyada nahi ho gaya?
I don’t think contract employees can do anything against this.
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HUnder the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, you are entitled to maternity leave if your company has 10+ employees. As a contractual employee, this applies if you’ve worked at least 80 days in the past year.
If pressured to resign, escalate to the senior-most person in the company. Since it’s a small company, they may not address the issue. In such a case, consult a labor lawyer or approach the local labor office to file a complaint.
Termination or forced resignation due to pregnancy is discriminatory and illegal. Document everything and forward all communications to your personal email, as they may deactivate your official email account.
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HI don’t have any contacts here. Which city are you looking for? Labor lawyers are available in all cities. You can mention the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 in your official communication—it’s usually enough to deter HR and decision-makers. Legal routes take time, but they will eventually have to pay interest, legal costs, and other penalties if they persist
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HTheir denial doesn’t absolve them of their legal obligations under the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. Pursuing this through proper channels will strengthen your case. Find a local labor lawyer and send them a legal notice as the first step. The lawyer might charge a few thousand for the notice, but this will likely prompt them to reconsider their stance quickly
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UTell them that you will file FIR for fraud and cheating I know you might feel that how is this fraud and cheating but look up the Indian Penal Code the definition says any act committed to deceive any person so your case fits in that because you are being denied rights legally available to you this should be used in worst case scenario when you have tried everything but they are not willing and you have decided that you will resign in such cases you might actually also file FIR because the criminal cases get solved very quickly it takes around one and half years to solve a criminal case various civil case is take mostly 10 to 20 years also because of criminal cases under pressure they might give you your benefits but also realise that companies are very powerful so they might even not give you the benefits
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UIf they fire you for being pregnant, they’ll be violating your fundamental right to equality enshrined in the Constitution. If they terminate your employment during your maternity leave, they have to provide you with the benefits you are entitled to during that leave.
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PI was okay with termination, in that case things would have been under my control. But resignation will make it look like I am doing it without pressure.
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UDon’t stress yourself sis. Your baby’s health will have impact. They just want to avoid paying salary for maternity period that’s why asking for resignation.
Company will be in big legal trouble if they terminate you during pregnancy period without any genuine reason.
Drop an email to HR asking details relating to maternity this way you’ll have some official documents if required at later stage On a safer side, take the print of the mail copy if in case they delete the mail from your email id without informing you.Stay strong. Don’t resign
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VDo not resign unless they offer you some settlement amount.
If they threaten to fire you, let them know you will be contesting this in court.
Ensure that you have documented the fact that you have informed the company about the status of your pregnancy.
Be it on text, whatsapp or email.
Do not get bullied. And know that the laws will protect you.
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VAlso, congratulations.
If the amount is not to significant then don’t contest it.
Your mental health right now is alot more imp than a few months salary.
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UThat’s straight up illegal, start noting and documenting everything. Since they are already threatening you even if you convince them to let you stay the dynamics in the office will be off. So threaten to sue them, get a lawyer and get as much info as you can. Don’t say anything until everything is collected, they will lost probably try to settle everything out of court and you will get a LOT of money
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SHenceforth record every conversation you are having with them. Keep everything on email. If it’s a phone call put it on speaker and record it.
Next thing companies will do is send you a performance review notice. The companies don’t want to shell out benefits for maternity leave. They will make up an issue with your performance and fire you.
Do not resign.
Be smart about it. Collect evidence.
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NCan they not review performance of a female employee just because she is pregnant? Just trying to understand the law here.
If that is the case, what is stopping a pregnant female employee to not perform at all and the company cannot do sh!t?
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SI think you didn’t exactly understand what I meant.
Employee is performing well. She becomes pregnant. The company doesn’t want to pay the benefits. They then conduct a performance review and give shitty remarks in order to fire the employee on false pretext.I never said performance reviews of pregnant employees can’t be done.
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UHello . Firstly contractual
Employees also have right to maternity benefits from the company . 6 months fully paid leave. It is a statutory law not a company policy . They have to give it you as per law . It is also illegal to fire you due to your pregnancy so do not voluntarily retire . First go approach the labour commissioner in your city and file a complaint .. see if they will take it up for you . Alternatively send a legal
Notice to the company through a lawyer .. one of the two should work and u may not need to go to court for this . A lot of companies get away with this kind of disgusting behaviour cause women do not complain or take legal action -
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VLawyer from delhi here!
Your employer cannot insist or force you to resign because of pregnancy and if they do so, you can submit a complaint to the national commission of women, state commission of women, ministry of women and child welfare, Ministry of corporate affairs and to the local labour commissioner. Thue should be all.
You can email them your complaint. -
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UWhat the company is doing to you is not acceptable. You have right to work. But considering your current health situation you can’t go to court and do these things. Don’t bring unwanted troubles to you when you are pregnant. It’s better to focus on your pregnancy and deliver the baby safely. You can get another job easily post pregnancy. It’s better to leave the place who don’t treat you fairly.
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QNAL..
HR here..
OP firstly Congratulations! That said The Maternity Benefit Act applies in your case. Since you say that you are a contractual employee, if it’s thru an an agency, your leaves will be thru the agency. If you are hired directly by this company as a contractor, then the leaves will be granted by the company.
Don’t give in to the corporate bullying. Stand your ground and inform that HR Rep of yours that you have read the Maternity Benefit Act (please read it and understand that fully, it is very easy and simple) and that if you are denied your right for Maternity Benefits you will proceed legally.
Please also be advised that they (company management, HR and your manager) will put pressure on you, via more tasks, work and make life difficult for you, so that you resign. Dont give in, hang on. If your salary is substantial than don’t let the bullies win.
Do consult a good lawyer who specialises in labour, employment and contract law cases and keep him/her on standby. You can also send a legal notice when you feel that the company is not going to budge on their stance.
Alternatively you can also contact the women & child development department of your region to step in mediate on your behalf.
You can also raise a complaint to the labour commissioner under whose jurisdiction your company’s office location falls under
>I told her that I am only inquiring about the leaves and am not looking for any benefits (had to say to get her to speak)
Never do this. The leave is the benefit along with pay.Also keep emails/teams chat, whatsapp chats as proof.
Hope this helps..
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SThey have to provide all benefits to you, even if you are a contract employee i.e. 6 months of mat leave with full pay.
If they refused a simple FIR in the nearest police station will do. It’s a criminal offense.
Moreover police will act immediately, you can also call the nearest Women’s Police station to report this, they will respond.
Don’t resign.
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UMy wife was a nurse and she was forced to resign when she was pregnant.She worked for Soumya hospital in Hyderabad. The delivery was in August and she resigned in April.
They simply told her we don’t have a maternity policy , I knew this was illegal and my wife did not want to proceed ahead and she resigned.
Another big hospital didn’t even pay my wife maternity benefits in 2020…My wife worked for KIMS, Begumpet and they are shit.
My daughter was born in December 2020 and wife.joined in June 2021 , for the six months they never paid her…she was informed that she would be paid once she joined after maternity leave .
This never happened ..they never paid and my wife is someone who is very polite …she quit in December of 2021 ….
Now as a nurse she hates working in a hospital ….
This is the raw truth …unappreciated and exploited !!!
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ALawyer here.
DHC recently granted maternity benefits to an contractual employee. The only condition is you fulfill 80 days consideration.
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