Maternity benefit under the Code on Social Security

1. Nature and scope

The benefit gives effect to Article 42 (maternity relief) and Article 15(3). Under the First Schedule Chapter VI applies to every factory, mine or plantation, including those of the Government, and to every shop or establishment employing ten or more employees on any day of the preceding twelve months, and to other establishments the appropriate Government notifies [MB Act s.2]. “Woman” means a woman employed directly or through a contractor for wages in any establishment (s.2(91)), so the status of the employment, permanent, casual or contract, does not matter.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi v. Female Workers (Muster Roll), 2000 INSC 129, (2000) 3 SCC 224: women engaged on muster roll on a daily-wage basis were held entitled to maternity benefit. The Court read the Act with Articles 39, 42 and 43 and with CEDAW, and said that a working woman is entitled to all facilities to discharge her duties as a mother with dignity, whatever the nature of her employment.

2. Restrictions on employment: section 59 [MB Act s.4]

• No employer shall knowingly employ a woman, and no woman shall work, in any establishment during the six weeks immediately following the day of her delivery, miscarriage or medical termination of pregnancy (s.59(1), (2)).
• On her request, a pregnant woman shall not be required to do arduous work, work involving long hours of standing, or work likely to interfere with the pregnancy or the development of the foetus or to cause miscarriage, during the month before the six weeks preceding the expected delivery and any part of those six weeks for which she does not take leave (s.59(3), (4)).
• No deduction may be made from her wages because of lighter work assigned under s.59 or nursing breaks (s.69) [s.13].

3. Right to maternity benefit and its calculation: section 60 [MB Act s.5]

Qualifying condition. She must have actually worked for the employer for not less than eighty days in the twelve months immediately preceding the expected date of delivery (s.60(2)). Days of lay-off and paid holidays count.

Rate. The average daily wage for the period of actual absence immediately before and after delivery. The average daily wage is the average of her wages for the days she worked in the three calendar months before her absence, but not less than the minimum wage under the Code on Wages, 2019 (Explanation to s.60(1)).

Period. A maximum of twenty-six weeks, of which not more than eight may precede the expected delivery. A woman with two or more surviving children gets twelve weeks, of which not more than six before delivery (s.60(3)). If she dies, benefit is payable up to the day of death; if she dies during or after delivery leaving the child, the employer pays for the whole period, or until the child's death if the child also dies.

Adoption and surrogacy. A woman who legally adopts a child below three months, or a commissioning mother, gets twelve weeks from the date the child is handed over (s.60(4)). Work from home may be allowed after the benefit period on mutually agreed conditions if the nature of work permits (s.60(5)).

The benefit is paid for every day of the period, Sundays included. In B. Shah v. Presiding Officer, Labour Court, Coimbatore, 1977 INSC 199, (1977) 4 SCC 384, a plantation employer paid for the 12 weeks of the old Act only for working days. The Court held that “week” means a cycle of seven days including Sundays, and that the woman must be paid for all 84 days, so that she is maintained in health throughout the period. The same reading applies to 26 weeks (182 days).

In Deepika Singh v. Central Administrative Tribunal, 2022 INSC 834, a nurse was refused maternity leave for her first biological child because her husband had two children from an earlier marriage whom she had cared for. The Court held she was entitled, reading the beneficial provisions purposively and recognising that family units take many forms.

4. Notice and payment: sections 62 and 63 [MB Act ss.6, 7]

• The woman may give written notice to the employer that the benefit be paid to her or her nominee and that she will not work elsewhere during the period. A pregnant woman states the date of absence, not earlier than eight weeks before the expected delivery. Notice may be given after delivery if not given before.
• The employer must permit absence. Benefit for the pre-delivery period is paid in advance on proof of pregnancy; the balance within forty-eight hours of proof of delivery.
• Failure to give notice does not disentitle her; the Inspector-cum-Facilitator may order payment (s.62(6)).
• If she dies before receiving the benefit, it goes to her nominee or legal representative (s.63).

5. Other benefits

• Medical bonus (s.64) [s.8]: three thousand five hundred rupees, or the amount notified, if the employer does not provide free pre-natal confinement and post-natal care.
• Leave for miscarriage or MTP (s.65(1)) [s.9]: six weeks with wages at the benefit rate.
• Tubectomy (s.65(2)) [s.9A]: two weeks.
• Illness arising out of pregnancy, delivery, premature birth, miscarriage or MTP (s.65(3)) [s.10]: up to one month more.
• Nursing breaks (s.66) [s.11]: two breaks a day, of prescribed duration, in addition to rest intervals, until the child is fifteen months old.
• Creche (s.67) [s.11A]: every establishment with fifty employees (or the prescribed number) must provide a creche within prescribed distance, separately or as a common facility, and allow four visits a day including rest intervals. Every woman must be told in writing and electronically of all Chapter VI benefits at her appointment (s.67(2)).

6. Dismissal and forfeiture

Dismissal during absence (s.68) [s.12]: it is unlawful to discharge or dismiss a woman during or on account of absence under the Chapter, or to give notice expiring during it, or to vary her conditions to her disadvantage. Dismissal during pregnancy does not deprive her of maternity benefit or medical bonus, except where the dismissal is for prescribed gross misconduct, when the employer may by written order deprive her of either or both. She may appeal to the competent authority within sixty days, and its decision is final.

Forfeiture (s.70) [s.18]: a woman who works for remuneration during the period she has been permitted to be absent for maternity benefit is not entitled to benefit for that period.

7. Inspector-cum-Facilitator: powers, functions and duties

Inspector-cum-Facilitators are appointed under section 122 [MB Act s.14 Inspectors] for the Chapter by the appropriate Government, and work under a web-based inspection scheme with randomised selection. Under section 122(5) and (6) an Inspector-cum-Facilitator may advise employers and employees on compliance (the facilitating role the new name signals), inspect assigned establishments, examine any person found on the premises whom he believes to be an employee, require the employer to produce documents or give information, search, seize or take copies of registers and records relevant to an offence, and bring to the Government's notice defects or abuses not covered by any law. A person so required is legally bound to comply (s.122(7)), and searches follow the Criminal Procedure Code (s.122(8)).

Under section 72 [MB Act s.17] a woman may complain to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator that benefit or any amount has been improperly withheld, or that she has been discharged or dismissed during or on account of her absence. He inquires and may direct payment or pass such orders as are just. Appeal lies within thirty days to the prescribed authority, whose decision (or his, if no appeal is filed) is final. The employer must display an abstract of the Chapter in the local language (s.71) [s.19].

How this is examined

The papers ask this topic in every session under the old Act: “salient features of the Maternity Benefit Act” (January 2026), “benefits available to women” (February 2025), “define maternity benefit and explain the procedure for payment” (August 2024), “maternity leave” and “powers and duties of inspectors” as short notes, and “scope of the Maternity Benefit Act” (January 2026). Answer on Chapter VI with the 1961 Act sections in brackets. For “maternity leave”, give 26/12 weeks, eight weeks before delivery, adoption and commissioning mothers, miscarriage, tubectomy and illness leave, and B. Shah.