Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016 passed by the Rajya Sabha
Posted on: 12/Aug/2016 10:05:19 AM
Yesterday, the maternity Benefit (Amendment) Bill, 2016, which increases maternity leave from present 12 weeks to 26 weeks, was passed by the Rajya Sabha. The bill was moved for consideration and passage by Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya.
The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, protects the employment of women during the time of her maternity and entitles her of a full paid absence from work - to take care for her child.
It is applicable to all establishments employing 10 or more persons and the amendments will help around 1.8 million women workforce in the organized sector.
These amendments include increasing maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks for two surviving children and 12 weeks for more than two children, 12 weeks maternity leave to a Commissioning mother and Adopting mother` and mandatory provision of crèche in respect of establishment having 50 or more employees.
The amended Act have an enabling provision that would allow nursing moms to work from home even after 26 weeks of maternity leave, depending upon their job profile.
But, work-from-home option will be available where the nature of work assigned to the employee permits her to do so. The woman employee and her employer have to mutually agree on the duration of the work from home arrangement.
