States told to activate 'work from home' for nursing mothers

The government has asked all states to advise employers to implement 'work-from-home' arrangements for nursing mothers, given the perceived vulnerability of both mother and child to Covid-19, especially amid the second wave of infections in the country.
The Centre has also sought to remind that the work-from-home mode for nursing mothers could be a key step in retaining women in the overall workforce.

Invoking Section 5(5) of the Maternity Benefits Amendment Act, 2017, the Union labour ministry has written to state governments urging them to issue advisories to all employers on allowing nursing mothers to work from home for at least a year from the child’s birth.

In a communication dated June 1, the ministry said all employers may be advised,“to allow work from home, wherever nature of work so allows, for nursing mothers at least for a period of one year from the date of birth of the child”.

The ministry’s communication points out that in the context of Covid-19, nursing mothers are a “highly vulnerable lot” and there is a case for protection of this segment of the population from infection.

“Allowing nursing mothers to work from home can contribute to protecting them and their babies from getting infected. It is in this scenario that the enabling provision for allowing ‘work from home’ assumes significance and, hence, needs to be popularised amongst the women workforce and the employers need to be encouraged to allow more and more nursing mothers to work from home, wherever nature of work allows to do so,” the communication to all state/UT labour commissioners reads.

The Centre has reminded state governments of Section 5(5) of the Maternity Benefits Amendment Act, 2017 which brought in two key changes - increasing maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks and permitting work from home for nursing mothers if the nature of work allows it.