Updated: Friday March 23, 2012/AlJumaa
Jamada El Oula 01, 1433/Sukravara
Chaitra 03, 1934, at 09:55:27 PM
The
(W.P. Ordinance XXXII of 1958)
C O N T E N T S
Sections
1. Short title and extent.
2. Definitions.
3. Employment of, or work by, women in establishments prohibited during certain period.
4. Right to and liability for payment of maternity benefit.
5. Procedure regarding payment of maternity benefit.
6. Payment of maternity benefit in case of a woman's death.
7. No notice of dismissal to be given to a woman in certain cases.
8. Penalty for working for payment during permitted period of absence.
9. Penalty for contravention of this Ordinance by an employer and application of fine in payment of compensation.
10. Cognizance of offences.
11. Appeal against refusal to prosecute or grant sanction thereto.
12. Limitation.
13. Rules.
14. Exhibition of extracts.
15. Repeal and savings.
[1][1]The
(W.P. Ordinance
XXXII of 1958)
[
An Ordinance to consolidate the law relating
to employment of women in [2][2][establishments] in the
Preamble.—
WHEREAS it is expedient to consolidate the law relating to employment of women
in [3][3][establishments] in the
NOW, THEREFORE, in pursuance of the
Presidential Proclamation of the 7th day of October, 1958, and in exercise of
all powers enabling him in that behalf the Governor of West Pakistan is pleased
to make and promulgate the following Ordinance:-
1. Short title and extent.— (1) This Ordinance may be called the West Pakistan Maternity Benefit Ordinance, 1958.
[4][4][(2) It extends to the whole of [5][5][
2. Definitions.— (1) In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions shall have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say—
(a) “child” includes a still-born child;
[6][6][(b) “Director of Labour Welfare” means the
head of the Labour Welfare Directorate of the Province, by whatever name
called;]
(c) “employer” means any person who has ultimate control over the appointment of a woman;
[7][7][(d) “Establishment” means an organisation, whether industrial, commercial, or otherwise;]
(e) “Government” means the [8][8][Provincial Government];
(f) “Inspector
of Factories” means a person appointed as Inspector of Factories under section
10 of the Factories Act, 1934[9][9];
(g) “maternity benefit” means the amount payable under the provisions of this Ordinance to a woman employed in [10][10][an establishment];
(h) “medical
practitioner” means a medical practitioner nominated for the purposes of this
Ordinance by the employer with the approval of the Inspector of Factories;
(i) “prescribed”
means prescribed by rules made under this Ordinance;
(j) “still-born
child” means any child which has issued forth from its mother after the
twenty-eighth week of pregnancy and which did not at any time after being
completely expelled from its mother, breathe or show any other signs of life;
(k) “wages” means wages as defined in clause (vi) of section 2 of the Payment of Wages’ Act, 1936[11][11]; and
(l) “woman” means a woman worker.
(2) Expressions used in this Ordinance but not defined herein
shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Factories’ Act,
1934[12][12];
3. Employment
of, or work by, women in [13][13][establishments]
prohibited during certain period.—
No employer shall knowingly employ a woman and no woman shall engage in
employment in any [14][14][establishment] during the six weeks following the
date on which she is delivered of a child.
4. Right to and liability for payment of maternity benefit.— [15][15][(1) Subject to the provisions of this Ordinance, every woman employed in an establishment shall be entitled to, and her employer shall be liable for, the payment of maternity benefit at the rate of her wages last paid during the period of six weeks immediately preceding and including the days on which she delivers the child and for each day of six weeks succeeding that day:
Provided that a woman shall not be
entitled to maternity benefit unless she has been employed in the establishment
of the employer from whom she claims maternity benefit for a period of not less
than four months immediately preceding the day on which she delivers the
child.]
(2) [16][16][* * * * * * * * * * * *]
5. Procedure regarding payment of maternity benefit.— (1) Any woman entitled to maternity benefit,—
(a) who is pregnant may, give notice either orally in person or in writing in the prescribed form to the employer that she expects to be confined within six weeks next following and may therein nominate a person for the purposes of section 6;
(b) who has not given the notice referred to in clause (a) and has been delivered of a child, shall within seven days, give similar notice that she has been delivered of a child.
(2) When such notice is received, the employer shall permit the woman to absent herself from the factory from the date following the date of notice in the case mentioned in clause (a) of sub-section (1) and from the day of delivery in the case mentioned in clause (b) thereof, until six weeks after the day of delivery.
(3) An employer shall pay maternity benefit for twelve weeks to a woman entitled thereto in any of following ways selected by the woman, namely:-
(i) for
six weeks before delivery within forty-eight hours of the production of a
certificate signed by the medical practitioner stating that the woman is
expected to be confined within six weeks of the date of the certificate, and
for the remainder of the period for which she is entitled to maternity benefit
within forty-eight hours of the production of the proof that she has been
delivered of a child; or
(ii) for the period of six weeks before delivery and including the day of delivery, within forty-eight hours of the production of proof that she has been delivered of a child and, for the remainder of the said period, within six weeks of the production of such proof; or
(iii) for the whole of the said period of twelve weeks, within forty-eight hours of the production of proof that she has been delivered of a child:
Provided that a woman shall not be
entitled to any maternity benefit or any part thereof, the payment of which is
dependent upon the production of proof under this sub-section that she has been
delivered of a child, unless such proof is produced within six months of the
delivery.
(4) The proof required to be produced under sub-section (3)
shall be either a certified extract from a birth register or a certificate
signed by the medical practitioner or such other proof as may be accepted by
the employer.
6. Payment of maternity benefit in case of
a woman’s death.— (1) If a woman entitled to maternity benefit under this
Ordinance dies on the day she is delivered of a child or during the period
thereafter for which she is entitled to the maternity benefit, the employer’s
liability under sub-section (1) of section 4 shall not, by reason of her death,
be discharged, and he shall pay the amount of maternity benefit due, [17][17][to
the person nominated by her under subsection (1) of section 5 for the benefit
of all her legal representatives, or, if she has made no such nomination, to
all her legal representatives].
(2) If
a woman dies during the period for which she is entitled to maternity benefit
but before she is delivered of a child, the employer shall be liable only for
the period upto and including the day of her death, provided that any sum
already paid to her in excess of such liability under clause (i) of sub-section (3) of section 5 shall
not be recoverable from her legal representative; and any amount due at the
woman’s death shall be paid to the person nominated by her under sub-section
(1) of section 5, or [18][18][for the benefit of all her legal representatives,
or, if she has made no such nomination, to all her legal representatives].
7. No notice of dismissal to be given to a
woman in certain cases.— (1) When a woman absents herself from work in
accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance, it shall not be lawful for
her employer to give her notice of dismissal during such absence or on such a
day that the notice will expire during such absence.
(2) (a) No notice of dismissal given without sufficient cause by an employer to a woman within a period of six months before delivery shall have the effect of depriving her of any maternity benefit to which but for such notice she may have become entitled under this Ordinance.
(b) If
any question arises as to whether any notice of dismissal is one to which
clause (a) applies, such question
shall be referred to the Inspector of Factories; and an appeal from the
Inspector’s decision shall, within sixty days thereof, lie to the Director of
Labour Welfare whose decision shall be final.
8. Penalty for working for payment during
permitted period of absence.— If a woman does any work in any [19][19][establishment] for
which she receives payment in cash or kind after she has been permitted by her
employer to absent herself under the provisions of section 5, she shall be
liable to a fine not exceeding ten rupees.
9. Penalty for contravention of this Ordinance by an employer and application of fine in payment of compensation.— (1) If any employer contravenes any provision of this Ordinance, he shall be liable to a fine which may extend to five hundred rupees.
(2) Whenever a Court imposes a fine under
this section or confirms in appeal, revision or otherwise such a sentence, it
may, when passing judgment order the whole or any part of the fine recovered to
be applied in the payment of compensation to the woman concerned for any loss or
damage caused to her.
10. Cognizance
of offences.— (1) No prosecution
under this Ordinance shall be instituted except by, or with, the previous
sanction of the Inspector of Factories and no such prosecution shall be
instituted until the expiry of the period of appeal under sub-section (2) or,
if such an appeal is preferred, unless the Director of Labour Welfare by his
order thereon, sanctions a prosecution.
(2) Where the Inspector of Factories decides either to institute a prosecution under this Ordinance or to grant sanction thereto, he shall forthwith communicate his order to the person complained against, who may, within thirty days of the date of the said order, appeal to the Director of Labour Welfare against such decision; and the decision of the Director of Labour Welfare on such appeal shall be final and shall not be liable to be contested by suit or otherwise.
11. Appeal
against refusal to prosecute or grant sanction thereto.— Where on an application by an employer or a
woman, [20][20][or the person nominated by her or any of her
legal representative] the Inspector of Factories refuses either to institute a
prosecution under this Ordinance, or to grant sanction thereto, he shall
without delay communicate to the applicant his order of refusal, and an [21][21][applicant]
aggrieved by such order may, within thirty days of the date thereof appeal to
the Director of Labour Welfare against such order; and the decision of the
Director of Labour Welfare on such appeal [22][22][which shall be taken after affording to the
applicant an opportunity of being heard,] shall be final.
12. Limitation.—
13. Rules.— (1) Government may make rules to carry out the purposes of this Ordinance.
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such rules may provide for,---
(a) the preparation and maintenance of a muster roll or register or combined muster roll and register and the particulars to be entered in such muster roll, register or combined muster roll and register or in the register kept or deemed to have been kept under section 41 of the Factories Act, 1934[23][23];
(b) the inspection of [24][24][establishments] for the purposes of this Ordinance by the Inspector of Factories;
(c) the exercise of powers and the performance of duties by the Inspector of Factories for the purposes of this Ordinance;
(d) the method of payment of maternity benefit in so far as provision has not been made in this Ordinance;
(e) the forms of notice under clause (a) and clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 5; and
(f) procedure to be observed in the disposal of
appeals under sub-section (2) of section 7 or subsection (2) of section 10 or
section 11.
(3) Any such rule may provide that a contravention thereof shall be punishable with fine which may extend to two hundred and fifty rupees.
(4)
All rules made under this Ordinance shall be laid before the
[25][25][* * *] Provincial
Assembly, as soon as may be after they are made, and if the Assembly within
next subsequent seven days on which the Assembly has sat after any such rule
has been laid before it, resolves that the rule shall be annulled, the rule
shall forthwith be void, but without prejudice to the validity of anything
previously done thereunder or to the making of a new rule.
14. Exhibition of extracts.—
An abstract of the provisions of this Ordinance and the rules thereunder in the
regional language shall be exhibited in a conspicuous manner by the employer in
every part of the [26][26][establishment] in which
women are employed.
15. Repeal and savings.— (1) The following enactments are hereby repealed:---
[27][27][(a) the
(aa) the Bombay Maternity Benefit Act, 1929, as applicable in the District of Karachi;]
(b) the
(2) Notwithstanding the repeal of the enactments mentioned in sub-section (1), everything done, action taken, obligation, liability, penalty or punishment incurred, inquiry or proceeding commenced, officer appointed or person authorised, jurisdiction or power conferred, rule made and order issued under any of the provisions of the said enactments shall, if not inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance, continue in force and, so far as may be, be deemed to have been respectively done, taken, incurred, commenced, appointed, authorised, conferred, made or issued under this Ordinance.
[1][1]This Ordinance was
promulgated by the Governor of West Pakistan on 17th Dec., 1958; published in
the West Pakistan Gazette (Extraordinary), dated 22nd Dec., 1958, pages
1715-21; saved and given permanent effect by Article 225 of the Constitution of
the Islamic Republic of Pakistan (1962).
[2][2]Substituted for the word
“factories” by the Labour Laws (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Federal Act XI of 1994).
[3][3]Ibid.
[4][4]Substituted by the West
Pakistan Laws (Extension to
[5][5]Substituted, for the words
“the
[6][6]Substituted ibid.
[7][7]Substituted by the Labour
Laws (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Federal Act XI of 1994).
[8][8]Substituted, for “Government
of
[9][9]XXV of 1934.
[10][10]Substituted for the words “a
factory” by the Labour Laws (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Fed Act XI of 1994).
[11][11]IV of 1936.
[12][12]XXV of 1934.
[13][13]Substituted for the word
“factories” by the Labour Laws (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Fed Act XI of 1994).
[14][14]Ibid., for the word “factory”.
[15][15]Sub-section
(1) substituted ibid
[16][16]Omitted by the Labour Laws
(Amendment) Act, 1994 (Fed Act XI of 1994).
[17][17]Substituted by the
[18][18]Ibid.
[19][19]Substituted for the word
“factory” by the Labour Laws (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Federal Act XI of 1994).
[20][20]Inserted by the
[21][21]Substituted for the words
“employer or a woman” ibid.
[22][22]Inserted ibid.
[23][23]XXV of 1934.
[24][24]Substituted for the word
“factories” by the Labour Laws (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Federal Act XI of 1994).
[25][25]The words “
[26][26]Substituted for the word
“factory” by the Labour Laws (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Federal Act XI of 1994).
[27][27]Substituted, for clause (a), by the West Pakistan Laws (Extension
to
[28][28]
[29][29]Pb. VI of 1943.
West Pakistan Maternity Benefit
Rules, 1961
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