Maternity benefits for pregnant worker

This has been often a common phenomenon in Bangladesh that female workers give birth at their work places like factories or mills. This is just one of the scenarios of our worker’s rights where even they pay their live to earn. This incident illustrates that apart from ordinary rights factory authorities are very reluctant to ensure maternity benefits while a mother worker needs extra care and attention during pregnancy. 

 Photo: Better Work

However, government has approved six months maternity leave along with other benefits for govt. employees only on the opposite side our existing labour law allows maximum sixteen weeks maternity leave with full payment preceding and following the day of her delivery for the female workers who have not more than two alive children and who serves not less than six months immediately preceding the day of her delivery to her employer. However, maternity leave means the period of absence for which a female worker will be permitted to get salary and other benefits from her employer to give birth and taking care of her newborn child.

Nonetheless, no employer can employ a woman in his/her establishment during the eight weeks immediately after the delivery. In addition, if there is reason to believe that or if any female worker has informed her employer that she is likely to be delivered of a child within ten weeks then the employer shall not employ her for doing any work which is of an arduous nature or which involves long hours of standing or which is likely to adversely affect her health.

Procedure to take leave: Every pregnant woman entitled to maternity leave may give notice either orally or in writing to her employer that she expects to be confined within eight weeks. Any woman, who has not given such notice and has been delivered of a child shall give similar notice to her employer within seven days that she has given birth to a child. After receiving the notice the employer is bound to permit the women to absent herself from work from the day following the date of notice.

Procedure to pay maternity benefits: An employer shall pay maternity benefit wholly in cash to a woman in such one of the following ways as the woman desire, namely (a) for eight weeks before delivery, within three working days of the production of a certificate signed by registered medical practitioner stating that the woman is expected to be confined within eight weeks of the date of the certificate, and for the remainder of the period for which she is entitled to maternity benefit within three working days of the production of proof that she has given birth to a child or (b) for the said period up to and including the day of delivery, within three working days of the production of proof that she has given birth to a child, and for rest of the period, within eight weeks of the production of such proof or (c) for the whole of the period, within three working days of the production of proof that she has given birth to a child. However, a woman shall not be entitled to any maternity benefit or any part thereof, is she fails to produce the proof that she has given birth to a child within three months of the day of her delivery.

Payment of maternity benefit in case of woman’s death: If a female worker dies at the time of her delivery or during the next period of eight weeks, the employer shall pay the amount of maternity benefit due, if the newly born child survives her, to the person who undertakes the care of the child, and if the child does not survive her; to the person nominated by her or if she has made no such nomination, to her legal representative.

If a woman dies during the period for which she is entitled to maternity benefit but before giving birth to a child, the employer shall be liable only for the period up to and including the day of her death, provided that any sum already paid to her in excess of such liability shall not be recoverable from her legal representative, and any amount due at the woman’s death shall be paid to her nominated person or to her legal representative.

However, no employer can discharge, dismiss, remove or terminate the employment of a woman within a period of six month before and eight weeks after her delivery without sufficient cause to deprive her from maternity benefits. Additionally, where forty or more women work in a factory and they have child under the age of six then the employer shall arrange sufficient number of  hygienic rooms for that children where experienced and trained women will take care of them.

Hence, law is enough to ensure rights for pregnant worker though there exist a discrimination between govt. and private employees and between worker and managerial employees. However, proper compliance with the law can protect every right for the workers. Alternatively, state should bring the violator before justice.

Published in the Law & Our Rights page (P. 12) of The Daily Star on 29.12.2015.