'Same job, same status': Delhi HC sets rules for women returning from maternity leave

The Delhi High Court has ruled that women returning from maternity leave must be restored to the same or an equivalent role, with no erosion of status, responsibilities or promotion prospects, reported by news agency ANI.

The court directed the Centre to frame comprehensive rules within six months to safeguard working mothers against clear and less obvious forms of workplace discrimination, holding that maternity protection cannot be reduced to mere continuity of employment and wages.

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What the court held

In a judgement delivered on August 31 in Rakhi Bisht v Union of India and Anr, Justice Sachin Datta said, "Statutory protection during maternity is not limited to continuity of employment and wages but extends to professional status, responsibilities, managerial authority and prospects of career advancement."

The court interpreted Section 12(1) of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, which bars employers from varying any condition of service to a woman’s disadvantage during her protected absence. It held that “conditions of service” include the nature of duties, grade, reporting hierarchy, supervisory responsibilities and entitlement to appraisal and promotion.

Keeping the same job title and salary is necessary, but it is not enough. If other important conditions of her job are changed in a way that harms her, it would still be unfair, Justice Datta observed.

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The Rakhi Bisht case

Rakhi Bisht, a chartered accountant with around 14 years of experience and manager at software firm HashiCorp, went on maternity leave in 2023 but, on returning seven months later, was shifted to a treasury role handling tasks which were three levels below her designation.

While HashiCorp denied any demotion, citing unchanged pay and a 10% hike, the Delhi High Court held that maternity protection covers duties, status and career prospects, not just salary and title, and ordered the company to pay Bisht ₹10 lakh in compensation plus ₹1.5 lakh in costs.

Rights on return to work

The court laid down that a woman returning from maternity leave is ordinarily entitled to be restored to the post she held immediately before proceeding on leave. If that post is genuinely unavailable for bona fide organisational reasons, the employer must offer a role “as nearly equivalent as possible” in pay, grade, status, responsibilities, managerial authority and future advancement.

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Employers must also intimate to the employee, before she resumes duty, why the earlier post is unavailable and provide details of the alternative role, including its grade, remuneration, reporting structure and duties. Any objection raised by the employee must receive a reasoned response.

The judgement clarified that women may seek adjustments in duties, hours, place or pattern of work after childbirth, but such accommodations cannot be treated as acceptance of a lower position or used against them in appraisals or promotions.