(W.P.
Ordinance XXXII of 1958)
[22
December 1958 ]
An
Ordinance to consolidate the law relating to employment of women in [2][2][establishments] in the Province of West Pakistan
Preamble.—
WHEREAS it is expedient to consolidate the law relating to employment of women
in [3][3][establishments] in the Province of West Pakistan ;
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.
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.—
No Court shall take cognizance of any
offence against the Ordinance or any rule made thereunder unless complaint
thereof has been made to the Inspector of Factories within six months of the
date on which the offence is alleged to have been committed.
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.
[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:---
(aa) the
Bombay Maternity Benefit Act, 1929, as applicable in the District of Karachi;]
(b) the
Punjab Maternity Benefit Act, 1943[29][29].
(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).
[5][5]Substituted,
for the words “the Province of West Pakistan ,
except the Tribal Areas”, by the Federal Adaptation of Laws Order, 1975 (P.O. 4
of 1975).
[8][8]Substituted,
for “Government of West Pakistan ”, by the
Federal Adaptation of Laws Order, 1975 (P.O 4 of 1975).
[10][10]Substituted
for the words “a factory” by the Labour Laws (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Fed Act XI
of 1994).
[13][13]Substituted
for the word “factories” by the Labour Laws (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Fed Act XI
of 1994).
[17][17]Substituted
by the West Pakistan Maternity Benefit
(Amendment) Act, 1985 (Federal Act VIII of 1985).
[19][19]Substituted
for the word “factory” by the Labour Laws (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Federal Act XI
of 1994).
[20][20]Inserted by
the West Pakistan Maternity Benefit
(Amendment) Act, 1985 (Federal Act VIII of 1985).
[24][24]Substituted
for the word “factories” by the Labour Laws (Amendment) Act, 1994 (Federal Act
XI of 1994).
[25][25]The words “West Pakistan ”, deleted by the Federal Adaptation of Laws
Order, 1975 (P.O. 4 of 1975).
[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 Karachi ) Ordinance, 1964
(VII of 1964).
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