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Synopsis

The Delhi High Court in a recent judgment held that an organisation should be empathetic to female employees who are on maternity leave, rather than finding means to dispense with their services. The court was hearing petition by a woman who was terminated from her services on the ground of not performing duties consistently and being absent without information.

Justice Jyoti Singh, while allowing the petition and imposing a cost of Rs. 25000 on the respondents as against the loss of livelihood and mental suffering caused to the petitioner, observed, “Keeping the aim and object of the beneficial legislation in mind, which is to regulate employment of women in certain establishments, before and after child birth and to provide maternity benefits including maternity leave, an organization should be empathetic to a woman employee who is pregnant rather than make all kinds of vague and bald allegations and find means and ways to dispense with her services.”

It was contended by the petitioner that the impugned action of termination was contrary to Section 12 of the Maternity Benefits Act of 1961 Act, which provides that when a woman absents herself from work in accordance with provisions of the said Act, it shall be unlawful for her employer to discharge or dismiss her during or on account of such absence or to give notice of discharge/dismissal on such a day that notice expires during such absence or to vary to her disadvantage any of the conditions of her service.

Brief Background

The petitioner was appointed on a contractual basis as a Research Associate in ICAR-IASRI, in a project called ‘Consortium Research Platform on Genomics’ for the period ending 31.03.2017.

The appointment letter dated 29.10.2016 was issued to the petitioner stipulating the terms and conditions of service, including the nature of admissible leaves.

Clause 8 of the Appointment letter permitted the Respondents to terminate the Research Associateship, with or without notice, at any time, if the Research Associate was found to be negligent in his or her work or in case of unbecoming conduct.

Notably, the petitioner was granted a third extension on account of her good performance in the project.

According to the Petitioner, the problem started when she applied for leave on 13.06.2019 on account of backache and weakness by an email addressed to the Project Co-in-charge.

Since Petitioner was not recovering, she repeated her request by email dated 15.06.2019.

On 19.06.2019, the Petitioner informed the concerned officers through an email communication that medical tests confirmed her pregnancy and on account of bed rest advised by the doctor, she would need leave for two more weeks.

When the petitioner expressed her willingness to join back by submitting all relevant documents, she was informed of her termination vide order dated 25.07.2019.

Case Title: Shachi Gahoi v. Indian Agricultural Statistics Research Institute | WP (C) No. 10521 of 2019