Tamil Nadu Government Employees’ Association has taken strong exception to the officials of Labour Department here transferring a woman employee who has gone on maternity leave in violation of a Government Order pertaining to maternity leave.
The association president, S. Tamil Selvi, led a protest here on Friday flaying the attitude of officials of Labour Department for putting the woman employee on maternity leave to untold mental agony.
The steno-typist, A. Premavathi, working in the office of Assistant Commissioner of Labour in Virudhunagar had gone on maternity leave in February. “Within a few days, the woman was transferred and another employee from Chennai posted here. Consequently, her maternity leave salary for the month of March was denied,” said C.E. Kannan of the association.
Ms. Tamil Selvi said that while the G.O. of 1990 stipulated that a woman going on maternity leave should be retained in the same post till she rejoined duty, the very Labour Department that needed to implement the welfare of employees itself was violating the Government order.
The association had taken up the issue with Virudhunagar Collector and Commissioner of Labour.
However, only after the issue was taken with State Commission for Women, the Department on Friday issued an order to make the payment to Ms. Premavathi.
Similar incidents are coming up in other departments too.
When the process of salary bill was made manually, salary for two persons in the same post could be given by considering one post as on deputation. “But, under the Integrated Financial and Human Resources Management System (IFHRMS), it is not possible. The women employees are made to suffer,” she said.
“While the government has increased the number of days of maternity leave from 90 days to nine months, the officials are denying the benefit to the workers,” she said.
