Query On Gratuity Years Consideration For A Employee

There is a case here in my company in which the Employee joined on Sep-2006.
She came on job till Feb-2012 and after that she sent us a mail stating that she is Pregnant and her due date is in September 2012.
Then she sent email that she wants leave for next March and then kept sending mails to extend her leaves till her delivery and after that also she didnt come till December 2012 and sent a email again saying that she will not be able to come till next Jan 2013 and to exted her leaves.
To this we sent a letter to her to get back to work from december 2012 but she resigned in reply to that.
Now while calculating her Full & Final The number of years to be considered for Gratuity should be till her last day worked, i.e, till feb'12 OR till her delivery date i.e, Sep'12 as we already paid her the maternity benefits OR till the date she resigned i.e, Dec,2012?
Please help to clarify the above query...
Thanks & Regards,
Rucha
10th January 2013 From India, Ahmadabad

How long is the maternity leave in your organization??? Was this almolst a year's leave paid?

Are you aware that as per maternity Act, a female is entitled to 12 weeks (3 months) of paid leave?

For your query... If you have paid her all her maternity dues, good.

I don't know what would be settled in F&F as there is no salary claims on her part. I hope you've not contributed to her PF account (While on maternity, there is no contribution to PF account from either side.)

About gratuity, you would consider her tenure from her Date of Joining (DoJ) till her Last Working Day (LWD).

==========================================

I think Seniors should also help if we can do something with regards to this so that we discourage females who resign after taking maternity benefits.

Sure resignation on medical grounds can be considered, but there are cases when females do take undue advantage of the maternity act.

(sorry to state this. I myself am a female, but I don't really appreciate the acts wherein anyone just takes undue advantage of something done in your favor. Because of such condition, firms think twice to appoint a lady who's married and has not yet raised a family and genuine cases are really not considered.)
10th January 2013 From India, Mumbai

Dear Ms.Ankita (married or unmarried?).

I'm very sorry for your concluding remarks. And concluding your observations on gender. You never know under what circumstances she has to resign. You have seen many millions just like that go absconding without a trace and you are so angry on this young mother, why ? After all employees come and go there are so many reasons for that and how inhumane you are totally blaming only all mothers enmass, it's unfair. You can't ignore millions of ladies who postpone their pregnancy just for the sake of office. What I would have suggested is to talk to her passionately, ascertain her difficulties and if possible you could help or otherwise decide as per rule. How U could be upset about it so much.

Coming to your query, as others said, first settle/regularise whatever the methodology as per your policy or applicable rules and declare what is her last working day. Then only everything will be clear to you. Keeping everything open matters cannot be concluded.

Long live motherhood, ofcourse, including Ankita..

kumar.s.
10th January 2013 From India, Bangalore

Kumar S.

Sorry but I never said I am angry on the mother... neither have i stated that.

Matter of absconding and matter of females taking maternity benefits and resigning are very much similar. One needs to work for both.

Secondly, you missed out on the thing where I stated, sure we can consider the genuine reasons and medical reasons, but why not communicate same to your hr openly rather than going round the bush?

Thirdly, I never said have an action against this woman. I said this is a rising practice and we need to do something to curb it. We can always do so by keeping an open culture wherein females are encouraged to share their problems and concerns in some form to atleast HR department. You have completely misinterpreted the words.

And yes, there are people who take undue advantage of policies framed for their betterment. I never said all do it. But yes some people do it. And because of them genuine people are not consdidered and have to suffer, in various ways. I empathise with it.

Being a female i understand all the problem a female would have to deal with during pregnancy and post delivery. I have a colleague and i extend all my help in whatever ways i can.... But yes, there has to be policies in frame to ensure you're not fooled.

I didn't understand what was there that made it sound so rude. But in any case I apologize for it. All i wanted to do was draw a fact.
10th January 2013 From India, Mumbai

Dear Friend
For the purpose of Gratuity coverage which is 5 years in continuous service, the period to be calculated would be from the date of joining till the date of separation. In the instant case since she was on the roll of the company till Dec'12 ie, the date of her submitting the resignation, Gratuity would be considered till Dec'12 only.For the purpose of Gratuity coverage, it is the roll in the company and not the attendance which is to taken in to consideration.
regards
bk mohanty
Advisor and Sr Consultant
Bhubaneswar
9937822563
11th January 2013 From India, Bhubaneswar

Sir with regards to your advice, I have foll query:

In this article, pg no 3 salary is define as to what is included and what is not.

It defines as follows:

“wages” means all remuneration paid or payable in cash to a woman, if the terms

of the contract of employment, express or implied, were fulfilled and includes –

• such cash allowances (including dearness allowance and house rent
  
• allowance) as a woman is for the time being entitled to;
  
• incentive bonus; and
  
• the money value of the concessional supply of foodgrains and other
  
• articles,
  

but does not include –

• any bonus other than incentive bonus;
  
• overtime earnings and any deduction or payment made on account of
  
• fines;
  
• any contribution paid or payable by the employer to any pension fund
  
• or provident fund or for the benefit of the woman under any law for
  
• the time being in force; and
  
• any gratuity payable on the termination of service;
  

If you could help me solve the query as what you said and what is given in the article is i feel contradictory. Please guide me.
11th January 2013 From India, Mumbai

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maternity_benefit_act_1961.pdf (133.9 KB, 74 views)

Regarding Gratuity -
Dear friends,
there is a question that if an employee requests to pay him gratuity after he has completed 5 years of service but not resigning or retiring from the job? Can we pay him Gratuity ?
11th January 2013 From India, Shimla

Dear Friend
The issue in question was on Gratuity coverage only to which I have suggested as mentioned in my earlier note.What you have referred was wage coverage only. More over the gratuity legally may not be paid if the separation is due to termination by the company and in all other cases, Gratuity is payable.
regards
bk mohanty
11th January 2013 From India, Bhubaneswar

NO. Gratuity is not paid in between the service which is only settled at the time of separation regards bk mohanty
11th January 2013 From India, Bhubaneswar

That is cause if you look at it on an average there are only 26 working days.
We consider average 30days and 4 weekly offs irrespective of month or 2 weekly offs.
That's the general practice & suggested by rule.
Hope it helped :)
11th January 2013 From India, Mumbai