Parental Benefits And The Implication Of Primary Nurturer

Eesha Kalve, BA LLB (Hons), Institute of Law, Nirma University

Introduction

In the year 2009, a man employed as a teacher in a private school approached the Delhi High Court challenging the rejection of his paternity leave application and deduction of his pay because he wanted to stay with his wife and newborn child. The Delhi High Court recognized the employee’s right to paternity leave (even in non-government private sector school) despite lack of legislation concerning the matter.1 In the corporate world, besides multinational corporations like Ikea and Amazon which treat both male and female parents equally in this respect, Zomato offers 26 weeks of paid paternity leave to fathers.2 Thereby creating a more egalitarian system recognizing changing values of the society and family structures. However, it is important to observe how legislative mindset has changed, if at all, with regards to a more egalitarian parental benefits scheme.