MATERNITY BENEFIT (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2008

[No.15 of 2008]

[1-4-2008]

An Act further to amend the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 1961.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-ninth Year of the Republic of India as follows:-

Short title and commencement.

1. (1) This Act may be called the Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2008.

(2) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazzette, appoint.

Substitution of new section for section 8.

2. In the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (53 of 1961), for section 8, the following section shall be substituted namely:-

Payment of medical bonus.

“8. (1) Every woman entitled to maternity benefit under this Act shall also be entitled to receive from her employer a medical bonus of one thousand rupees, if no per-natal confinement and post-natal care is provided for by the employer free of charge.

(2) The Central Government may before every three years, by notification in the Official Gazzette, increase the amount of medical bonus subject to the maximum of twenty thousand rupees.”