The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (MBA, 1961) is a central piece of social security legislation in India, enacted to regulate the employment of women in certain establishments for specific periods before and after childbirth and to provide for maternity benefits. The Act was created to unify fragmented state-specific and industry-specific laws, such as the Mines Maternity Benefit Act, 1941, and the Plantations Labour Act, 1951, thereby establishing a standardized baseline of maternity rights. Its purpose was to uphold the dignity of motherhood and prevent women from suffering economic disadvantage or job loss due to childbearing, aligning with Article 42 of the Indian Constitution, which directs the State to secure just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.
The Act applies to factories, mines, plantations, and shops or establishments employing ten or more persons. To be eligible for benefits, a woman must have worked for the employer for at least 80 days in the twelve months immediately preceding her expected delivery date. The key mechanism is the provision of "maternity benefit," which is a fully paid absence from work. The most significant change came with the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017, which increased the duration of paid maternity leave from the original 12 weeks (Section 5) to 26 weeks for the first two children. For women having a third or subsequent child, the leave duration remains 12 weeks. The 2017 Amendment also introduced a provision for 12 weeks of leave for commissioning mothers and women adopting a child below the age of three months. Furthermore, it mandated that every establishment with 50 or more employees must provide a crèche facility (Section 11A). The Act also connects to the concept of job security, as Section 12 makes it unlawful for an employer to dismiss or discharge a woman solely because of her pregnancy. The Supreme Court, in Municipal Corporation of Delhi v. Female Workers (Muster Roll) (2000), affirmed that the benefits of the Act extend even to women employed on a casual basis.