Menstrual leave policy issue for employers, especially Govt: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday said the issue be better left to policy makers and asked the Centre to consider if a model policy should be framed.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said the issue related to policy and was not an issue for the courts to look into. (File Photo)

Cautioning that forcing employers to provide menstrual leave should not actually end up to the disadvantage of women staff, the Supreme Court on Monday said the issue be better left to policy makers and asked the Centre to consider if a model policy should be framed.

“There are two very different perspectives. Having a menstrual leave policy encourages the women to be part of the workforce, the other perspective is that mandating such policies will actually impose sort of a bar on women being employed because the employer will then shun women in the workplace. We do not want that to happen also”, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, presiding over a three-judge bench, said.

“The whole issue of menstrual leave policy is in that sense purely a policy issue for employers to consider, especially at the government level, because what you try to do to protect women may actually work to their disadvantage”, he said.

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The bench, also comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, was considering a plea urging it to direct the Centre and the state governments and Union Territories to implement policies for the grant of menstrual leave to women under the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961.

Disposing of the petition, the court noted the same petitioner had filed a plea last year in which court on February 24, 2023 “allowed” the petitioner to submit a representation to the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development to consider “the policy issues involved in the case”.

“Even though the petitioner submitted a representation on May 19, 2023 to the Union Ministry and other authorities, no response has been received as yet. Since the issue raised multifarious aspects of policy, this court was with the view that it must be attended to by the Union and the states. At this stage of the matter, there is no reason for the court to take a different view, particularly in light of earlier order dated February 24 2023”, the court ordered.

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