Contract Employees are Entitled to Maternity Benefits: Madras High Court

In an important verdict, the Madras High Court has ruled that contract employees are entitled to maternity benefits, just like permanent employees. The court held that the Maternity Benefits Act of 1961 will take precedence over any contractual agreements that either deny maternity benefits or provide less favorable terms. This decision is seen as a major win for women working on contract in various sectors.

The ruling was delivered by a First Division Bench comprising Chief Justice K.R. Shriram and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy. The court made the decision while hearing a writ petition filed by the MRB Nurses Empowerment Association, which had been pending since 2018. The petition was filed after nurses working under the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM) were denied 270 days of paid maternity leave.

The petition argued that despite being appointed to improve healthcare in rural areas under the NHRM scheme, which is funded by the Central Government, the nurses were not being given their rightful maternity benefits. The nurses were employed on a contractual basis with a consolidated monthly pay of ₹7,000, which was later revised to ₹11,000 following court orders.

The petitioner’s lawyer, M. Padmavathy, informed the court that over 11,000 nurses had been appointed under the NHRM in Tamil Nadu. Despite the fact that the Maternity Benefits Act grants 270 days of paid maternity leave to employees who have completed over two years of service, the state government had been denying this benefit to NHRM nurses on the grounds that they were contract employees.

The court, after hearing these arguments, pointed out that the Supreme Court had already established in the Dr. Kavita Yadav vs Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (2024) case that women employees are eligible for maternity benefits, even if their contract ends during maternity leave. The 1961 Act, the Supreme Court noted, was created to protect women’s rights during pregnancy and to help them balance their roles as both workers and mothers.

Chief Justice Shriram emphasized that Section 27 of the Maternity Benefits Act of 1961 ensures that its provisions override any contractual terms that deny or limit maternity benefits. He noted that the respondents’ reliance on contractual terms to deny benefits was not legally acceptable.

The court ordered that all pending and future requests for maternity benefits from NHRM nurses on contract should be processed according to the provisions of the Maternity Benefits Act. The state government was instructed to resolve these applications within three months.

This ruling is a landmark decision, ensuring that contract employees across sectors are treated equally under the Maternity Benefits Act, giving them the protection they deserve during pregnancy.