Govt working on a scheme to partially reimburse employers for Maternity Benefits

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Entities may avail incentive for women employees earning less than Rs 15000 per month Government is working on an Incentive Scheme wherein seven weeks wages shall be reimbursed to employers who employ women workers and provide the maternity benefit of 26 weeks paid leave, as provided for in the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017.

To enable an entity to avail of the incentive, the women employees working in their entity should be a wage earner of less than Rs 15000 per month and a member of Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) for at least one year and not covered by Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC).

A meeting of Stakeholders’ Consultation with representatives of concerned Central Ministries, State Governments, Employers’, Employees’ etc was held on 14 November 2018 to discuss the matter. The Scheme was supported by and large with the majority of stakeholders.

The scheme is proposed to be administered after obtaining the approval of the competent authorities. The Incentive is proposed to be funded from the budgetary allocations. The government has not made any allocation for the scheme during the current financial year.

Source: Business Standard