Contractual employees also entitled to paid maternity leave, rules Madras High Court

Madras High Court rules contract employees entitled to maternity benefits under Maternity Act of 1961, prevailing over contractual conditions.

In a significant verdict, the Madras High Court has ruled that contract employees too are entitled to maternity benefits and that the provisions of the Maternity Act of 1961 would prevail over contractual conditions if the latter either deny or offer less favourable benefits.

First Division Bench of Chief Justice K.R. Shriram and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy held so while allowing a writ petition pending in the High Court since 2018 against denial of 270 days of paid maternity leave to nurses appointed under the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM).

MRB (Medical Services Recruitment Board) Nurses Empowerment Association had filed the writ petition highlighting the denial of maternity benefits to nurses appointed under the NHRM, a scheme floated and funded by the Centre for enhancement healthcare in rural areas.

The petitioner’s counsel M. Padmavathy told the court that more than 11,000 nurses had been appointed in Tamil Nadu under the NHRM on a consolidated monthly pay of ₹7,000 which was subsequently revised to ₹11,000 on the basis of court orders.

Though the Maternity Act contemplates grant of 270 days of paid maternity leave to women employees who had put in more than two years of service, the State government had been denying such a benefit to NHRM nurses on the ground that they were contractual employees, she complained.

After recording her submissions, the Chief Justice said the Supreme Court had in Dr. Kavita Yadav versus Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (2024) had held that a woman employee, who fulfills the entitlement criteria, would be eligible for maternity benefits even if they exceed the duration of her contract.

In that case, the top court had taken into account that the 1961 Act was enacted to secure women’s right to pregnancy and maternity leave and to afford them as much flexibility as possible to live an autonomous life, both as a mother and as a worker, if they so desire.