Probe after woman fired for ‘seeking maternity leave’

Noida: A tweet to UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath by a woman alleging that her 24-year-old sister-in-law was fired from her job at a private company in Noida’s Sector 11 for seeking maternity leave, has prompted a police investigation.
According to the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act that came into force last year, working women are entitled to a 26-week paid leave, up from the earlier 12 weeks. And Section 12 of the Act emphasizes that any dismissal or discharge of a women during the pregnancy is unlawful and such employer can be punished.

According to Monika Rawat, a resident of Shahberi in Greater Noida, she had worked with the company as a customer relationship executive for the past six months.

“When I joined the company, I had informed the management that I was pregnant. But when on December 5, I told them that by January 10 I need to go on maternity leave, senior officials asked me not to come to office anymore. They told me to come on December 7 to get all the dues,” she said.

“The company just want to deprive me of the benefits under the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act,” she alleged.

When contacted, Rashmi, the company’s customer relationship manager and Monika’s immediate supervisor, she said she was not aware of the developments.

But Pankaj Pant, SHO of Sector 24 police station, said that a team visited the company for investigation on Monday.

“A meeting has been fixed between the woman and the company management to resolve the matter,” he added.