Maternity Leave In India Increased To Six Months

• Maternity leave increased from 12 to 26 weeks.
• Female employees with at least two children continue to be entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave.
• Maternity leave of 12 weeks for female employees adopting a child below 3 months and for commissioning mothers.
• Employers having at least 50 employees to provide creche facility.
• Working mothers may be entitled to work from home.
• Effective date of the amendment yet to be notified.

The wait finally ends! Maternity leave in India stands increased to 26 weeks for the private sector. The effective date of the amendment will be separately notified.

After enactment of the stringent law on prevention of sexual harassment of women at workplace in 2013, the Indian government has now given female employees another reason to rejoice. With this development, maternity leave to be offered by private employers in India has been brought at par with that of government employees in India. It is significant to note that