Salary stayed Rs 2.6L after maternity leave, but duties were cut; HC awards Rs 10 lakh
The Delhi High Court ruled that maternity protection for employees extends beyond salary and job title to include actual responsibilities and career progression. The court awarded Rs 10 lakh to a woman whose managerial duties were reduced after returning from maternity leave.
Why it matters
This judgment strengthens labor rights for women, ensuring that employers cannot marginalize employees returning from maternity leave by stripping them of their professional authority.
A woman with 14 years’ experience returned to her job after maternity leave only to find that while her salary had remained the same, her managerial duties had been reduced. Now the Delhi High Court has ruled that maternity protection cannot be treated as a matter of simply preserving a woman employee's salary and job title.The High Court has made it clear that the statutory safeguard also covers the work she performs, her position in the organisational hierarchy, supervisory powers and opportunities for appraisal and promotion.Justice Sachin Datta, in a judgment delivered on August 31, 2026, said a woman who returns to work after maternity leave should ordinarily be placed back in the post she occupied before going on leave.If that position has ceased to exist for genuine and demonstrable organisational reasons, the employer must provide another role that is as close as reasonably possible to the original one in…
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