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Amendments soon: Maternity benefits for private, estate sector women
View(s):Government is to amend the Maternity Benefits Ordinance and Shop and Office Employees (Regulation of Employment and Remuneration) Act, to grant the same maternity leave and benefits to women workers in the private and plantation sectors, as granted to those in the government sector. Amendments to the relevant Legislation have been published in the Gazette, pending the tabling of the two Bills in Parliament.
At present, government sector women workers are entitled to 84 working days of leave, irrespective of the number of confinements. However, under the Maternity Benefits Act applicable to women workers in the private sector, they are granted 84 days of maternity leave in respect of only two childbirths and only 42 days of maternity leave for the third and subsequent childbirths, while the maternity benefits accorded to them too, vary.
Furthermore, under the Maternity Benefits Act, women workers in the estate sector get only three-fourths of the maternity benefits, whereas, women workers in other sectors receive the full benefits. The relevant Laws are being amended, taking into account the facts highlighted by various organisations such as trade unions, workers’ groups, the International Labour Organisation and human rights activists, with regard to the apparent anomalies in granting maternity leave and maternity benefits to the women workers in the government, private and plantation sectors, former Justice Minister Dr. Wijayadasa Rajapakshe informed Cabinet in 2015, when the amendments were first envisaged.