Maternity Leave Denied: Legal Action Against Employer

One of my clients recently had a case which I am explaining below and if you are stuck in such similar situation, here is what to do.

Note: Due to attorney-client privilege, I cannot disclose complete case details or identify the actual parties involved. However, I am sharing the essential facts and legal approach so that if you find yourself in a similar situation, you can understand the available solutions and legal remedies.

TL;DR: Maternity leave denied, or quietly put on hold, is rarely a performance problem at all. Section 12 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 makes it unlawful for an employer to dismiss or discharge a woman during her maternity leave, or to vary her service conditions to her disadvantage because she is pregnant. A legal notice, a complaint to the Inspector under the Act, and a writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution are the practical routes, and they tend to move faster than people expect.

Ananya Deshmukh had been at the Pune-based product company for four years. Senior product manager, two releases a year, nothing on her file except routine appraisal notes. In early March 2025 she told HR she was pregnant and asked how to file for maternity leave. Nine days later, the emails began. One about a missed comment on a design document. One about a stand-up call she had joined five minutes late.

We only have one side of this. The company's version is not in front of us. What is in front of us is the sequence, and the sequence is not subtle. By the first week of April, her manager was writing about a possible performance improvement plan. Her leave application, filed on 28 March 2025, sat unapproved. HR's stated reason, in writing: performance concerns.

Her husband, Rohit Deshmukh, first consulted a general practitioner a friend had recommended. Nothing moved. In mid-April he approached the Chamber of Advocate Sudhir Rao. The office sent a legal notice invoking Section 12 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, and followed it with a representation to the Inspector under the Act, setting out the date of the pregnancy disclosure and each adverse email that came after it. The PIP was withdrawn in eleven days. The leave was approved.

Advocate Sudhir Rao's domain experience in maternity benefit and employment matters helped secure the relief the client needed, because the case was won on dates and documents rather than on argument.

Key Facts of the Case

• The employee had four years of service with no prior written warning or disciplinary record.
• She disclosed her pregnancy to HR in early March 2025 and filed her maternity leave application on 28 March 2025.
• Adverse performance emails began within days of the disclosure, and a performance improvement plan was threatened in April 2025.
• The leave application was neither approved nor formally rejected. It was simply left pending, with performance given as the reason.
• The employer never issued a charge sheet, never held a domestic enquiry under the standing orders, and never put the alleged performance shortfall to her in a formal process.
• The decisive legal position was Section 12 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, which bars dismissal during maternity leave and bars any variation of service conditions to the woman's disadvantage.
• A legal notice plus a representation to the Inspector under the Act produced the result without litigation.

The Direct Legal Answer

Maternity leave denied in India: can an employer do this?

No. Maternity benefit is a statutory entitlement, not a discretionary favour. Once an eligible woman gives notice under Section 6 of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, the employer has no room to withhold it on performance grounds. Performance issues, if genuine, are handled through the appraisal or disciplinary process. They cannot be used as a reason to stall a statutory benefit.

An employer who wants to avoid paying maternity benefit rarely writes a letter saying so. What it writes instead is a memo about "deliverables", a calendar invite moved, a quiet freeze on approvals. That is why the legal analysis in these matters is almost entirely a timeline exercise. Who said what, on which date, and in what order.

What Section 12 of the Maternity Benefit Act Actually Says

Section 12(1) of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 is short and unusually blunt. When a woman is absent from work in accordance with the Act, it is unlawful for the employer to:

• discharge or dismiss her during that absence, or on account of it;
• serve a notice of discharge or dismissal on a date chosen so that the notice runs out during that absence; or
• vary any of the conditions of her service to her disadvantage.

That third limb is the one employers forget. Denial of maternity leave is not the only thing the section catches. Moving a woman to a lower grade, cutting her variable pay, stripping her of a team or a territory, shifting her reporting line to someone junior, or marking her "not made expectations" in the appraisal cycle that happens to fall during her pregnancy — all of it is caught by the words "vary any of the conditions of her service to her disadvantage".

There is one exception, and it is narrow. Section 12(2) preserves the employer's right to dismiss or discharge a woman for gross misconduct, and even then it cannot deprive her of maternity benefit she has already earned. Gross misconduct means something specific — theft, fraud, violence, falsification of records. Missing a comment on a design document is not gross misconduct. An employer that wants to use that door has to hold a real enquiry and prove the misconduct on evidence. The burden sits on the employer, not on the woman.

Note the two phrases the sub-section relies on: "on account of such absence", and service conditions varied to her "disadvantage". Both force the employer to explain the timing. When adverse emails start nine days after a pregnancy disclosure and nothing was written on the file for four years before it, the explanation has to come from somewhere.

Who Is Covered by the Maternity Benefit Act

• Factories, mines, plantations, and establishments employing ten or more persons, along with shops and establishments notified by the state government.
• A woman who has actually worked in the establishment for at least 80 days in the twelve months before her expected date of delivery.
• 26 weeks of paid maternity leave for the first two surviving children; 12 weeks where she already has two or more surviving children, and for commissioning and adopting mothers in the cases the Act specifies.
• A medical bonus, and in larger establishments a crèche facility.
• No work of an arduous nature and no night work in the period just before the expected delivery.
• Work from home after the leave period, where the nature of the work allows it and the employer and the woman agree on the terms.

The 80-day condition is where a lot of cases are lost before they begin, so count it before you write anything to HR. Contractual and fixed-term employees are not excluded by the Act. What matters is the days worked and the size of the establishment.

What To Do First If Maternity Leave Is Denied

Sequence matters more than volume. Sending eight angry emails helps less than one dated letter that lists the entitlement and the response deadline.

1. Give written notice. Section 6 of the Act requires a notice of claim stating the date from which you will be absent and the amount claimed. If you have already filed it and it is sitting unapproved, that is enough — a pending application is a denial in substance.
2. Put the adverse events in writing. A single email to HR, copied to your manager, listing the date of your pregnancy disclosure and each adverse step taken after it. Not emotional. Just dates.
3. Legal notice. A notice invoking Section 12 and the payment provision in Section 5, giving the employer a short window to comply. This is where most employers fold, because the notice makes the timeline public and puts the HR team personally in the frame.
4. Complaint to the Inspector. Inspectors appointed under the Act have powers of entry and inspection and can pursue payment. In Pune and the rest of Maharashtra this is handled through the office of the Labour Commissioner. It costs you nothing but a set of photocopies.
5. Writ petition. Under Article 226 in the High Court, or Article 32 in the Supreme Court in an appropriate case. Courts tend to treat a stalled statutory benefit as a live violation rather than a service dispute, but a writ court can send you back to the alternative remedy if the facts are seriously disputed.
6. If you are a government employee, a representation and then the departmental appeal or the appropriate tribunal may be the faster route, and it does not bar a writ later.

Can You Go to Court If Maternity Leave Is Denied?

Yes, and the relief is usually a direction to grant the leave and pay the benefit rather than damages. Two practical points decide how a court reacts.

First, delay. A writ is discretionary, and a court asked to intervene eight months after the leave was due will ask why. Move within weeks, not months. Second, the paper trail. If the only evidence is your own recollection of a corridor conversation, the case is much weaker than if you have the disclosure email and the leave application with a date on it.

Where the employer has already dismissed you, the claim changes shape. You are then asking for the dismissal to be set aside as contrary to Section 12, along with the maternity benefit and, in some forums, back wages. That is a heavier matter and the enquiry record, or its absence, becomes central.

The Maternity Benefit Act is the statute that governs here. The penal provisions of the BNS, 2023 are not usually in play unless the conduct involves forgery, criminal breach of trust or intimidation — which is rare in these files. Do not build your case around a criminal complaint when the statutory remedy is faster and cheaper.

How Long Does It Actually Take

Honestly: it depends on the employer. A legal notice usually draws a response within seven to fifteen days — legal departments move fast when a date is on the letter. A representation to the Inspector can take a few weeks to a couple of months, varying by state. A writ petition can get an early hearing within days if urgency is shown, but final disposal runs into months.

In the matter described above, the notice and the representation were enough. The PIP was withdrawn in eleven days and the leave was approved. That outcome is common, and it is not guaranteed. If an employer has already terminated the employment and holds an enquiry record, expect a longer fight.

Documents to Keep Ready

• Appointment letter, employment contract and the latest salary slip or bank statement.
• The written pregnancy intimation to HR — email, portal entry, or chat — with the date visible.
• The maternity leave application and whatever acknowledgement exists.
• Every email, message or memo that followed, in date order. Export them as PDFs before anyone loses access to a work account.
• HR's written reason for non-approval, if there is one.
• Medical certificate stating the expected date of delivery.
• Appraisal records and any prior written warning, so you know what the employer can actually point to.
• Proof of days worked in the last twelve months, if eligibility is likely to be questioned.

Frequently Asked Questions