Maternity benefits: your rights under the Social Security Code

Having a baby should not cost a woman her job or her income. Yet women are still pushed to resign when they announce a pregnancy, or return weeks after delivery because they cannot afford unpaid leave. Since 21 November 2025 these rights sit in Chapter VI of the Code on Social Security, 2020, which replaced the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 and kept its main protections, giving effect to the Constitution's promise of maternity relief Art 42.

Who is covered

The maternity chapter applies to every factory, mine and plantation, and to every shop or establishment that employed 10 or more people on any day in the preceding twelve months, government ones included. It does not matter whether you are permanent, on contract, on probation or paid daily, directly or through a contractor.

To qualify, you must have actually worked for the employer for at least 80 days in the twelve months immediately before your expected date of delivery Sec 60(2). Days of paid leave and lay-off count as days worked.

If you are insured under the Employees' State Insurance (ESI) scheme (wages up to ₹21,000 a month in a covered establishment), ESIC pays your maternity benefit under its own rules, and your employer must still give you the leave. Government servants have their own leave rules. Women in the unorganised sector can claim ₹5,000 for the first child under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana through the anganwadi or ASHA worker.

How much leave, and when

• First and second child: 26 weeks, of which not more than 8 can be taken before the expected delivery date Sec 60(3).
• Third child onwards (two or more surviving children): 12 weeks, up to 6 before delivery.
• Adoptive mother of a child, and commissioning mother (whose embryo is carried by a surrogate): 12 weeks from the date the child is handed over Sec 60(4). The subsection limited this to a child below three months; in Hamsaanandini Nanduri v Union of India (2026) the Supreme Court read that age limit down as arbitrary, so adoptive mothers now qualify whatever the child's age.
• Miscarriage or medical termination: 6 weeks of paid leave; tubectomy: 2 weeks; illness arising from pregnancy, delivery, premature birth or miscarriage: up to 1 extra month, with medical proof Sec 65.
• Work from home: after the leave, if the nature of your work allows, on terms you and the employer agree Sec 60(5).

The benefit is paid at your average daily wage over the three months before you went on leave, or the minimum wage, whichever is higher. If the employer does not provide free pre-natal and post-natal care, you are also entitled to a medical bonus of ₹3,500 or a higher amount the Central Government notifies Sec 64. The employer must tell every woman, in writing and electronically, about these benefits when she joins Sec 71.

Protection at work

• Your employer cannot dismiss you during or because of maternity leave, or change your conditions of service to your disadvantage Sec 68. Even a dismissal during pregnancy for another reason cannot take away the benefit or bonus, except for proven gross misconduct.
• No employer may knowingly make you work in the six weeks after delivery or miscarriage, and in the weeks before your leave begins you can ask not to be given arduous work or long hours of standing Sec 59.
• Two nursing breaks a day, in addition to your rest interval, until the child is 15 months old Sec 66.
• Every establishment with 50 or more employees must provide a creche, alone or jointly, and let you visit it four times a day Sec 67.

Step by step

1. Give written notice to HR stating your expected delivery date and the date your leave will start (not more than 8 weeks before the due date), with a doctor's certificate Sec 62. Email it and keep the sent copy. Notice can also be given after delivery; not giving notice does not cancel the right.
2. Ask for payment in advance for the pre-delivery period on proof of pregnancy, and for the rest within 48 hours of giving proof of delivery Sec 62.
3. If the employer refuses, delays or pressures you to resign, write once more citing Sec 60 and 68 of the Code and asking for a written reply within a week. Do not resign.
4. Complain to the Inspector-cum-Facilitator at the district labour office. The Inspector can direct the employer to pay the benefit wrongly withheld Sec 72; an appeal lies within the time the rules allow. Online: samadhan.labour.gov.in.
5. If you were dismissed, challenge it before the labour authority or court; a dismissal that violates Sec 68 can be set aside with back wages. A legal aid lawyer costs nothing: 15100.