The Odisha government has taken an important step for women employees, in which they will be provided 180 days of maternity leave.
The Odisha government has decided to give maternity and paternity leave to employees who opt for surrogacy. This information has been given in an official notification.
“We want to empower women and give them the opportunity to spend quality time with their families,” the Odisha chief minister said. The move is being seen as a positive sign to increase the number of women employees in the state and maintain a balance at their workplace.
According to a notification issued by the state finance department on Thursday night, women employees can avail 180 days of leave while male employees will be entitled to 15 days of paternity leave. It said the benefit will be given to both surrogate and commissioning mothers and commissioning fathers. The state government’s decision comes after the Centre extended the benefit of maternity and paternity leave to its employees who become parents through surrogacy.
Key details:
-180 days of maternity leave for women employees opting for surrogacy
-15 days of paternity leave for becoming a ‘commissioning father’ through surrogacy
-Leave benefits applicable for both surrogate mothers and commissioning mothers
-Commissioning parents should have less than two living children to be eligible for leave benefits
-Documents including surrogacy agreement and medical records required
It states that any female employee of a state government, who has less than two living children and who becomes a surrogate mother, shall be eligible for 180 days of maternity leave. A female employee of a state government, who has less than two living children, who becomes a ‘commissioning mother’ shall be eligible for 180 days of maternity leave. ‘Commissioning mother’ means the biological mother who uses her egg to implant an embryo in another woman.
Similarly, a male employee of the state government, having less than two living children, who becomes a ‘commissioning father’ will be eligible for 15 days of paternity leave within a period of 6 months from the date of birth of the child. If both the surrogate mother and the commissioning mother are employees of the state government, both will get 180 days of maternity leave. The notification said that for claiming maternity or paternity leave, the agreement on surrogacy between the surrogate mother and the commissioning parents along with supporting medical documents from registered doctors or hospitals will have to be submitted.
