Gauri Neo Rampal

Pregnant and fired from your job, citing COVID 19 ?   Many employers are firing pregnant women to avoid giving them mandatory maternity benefits as per the Maternity Benefit Act, 2017. Most of them are hiding behind the garb of the clause Force Majeure in times of COVID 19 Pandemic.   This is illegal.   If you have been fired from your job because you were pregnant you can take legal recourse. An employer cannot fire a pregnant employee who has worked in the organisation for upto 80 days in 12 months immediately preceding her date of delivery. Force majeure is a contractual defence. Maternity Benefit Act, 2017 is a welfare legislation and thus higher in precedence to Contract law. Therefore, it is the statutory obligation of all employers to comply with the provisions of the maternity benefit act, 2017. The act extends benefits to mother’s who are working from home, adoptive mothers, surrogate mothers, biological mothers. This is a prevailing problem across organisations,...

1.      WOMEN AS LAWYERS  - the first lady lawyer in India – not many lawyers were women around the world. The predominant perception in a patriarchal society is that women lawyers are meak, submissive and do not have a voice loud enough to be taken seriously. She is often taken as an amusing object who gives a “delightful” argument in the case by her opponents. A lady lawyer is predominantly engaged by litigants who have lost faith in their male advocates, in the system. A lady lawyer till date holds the privilege and honour of being perceived as an honest, sincere and hardworking lawyer. She is not perceived as a corrupt, overtly greedy and unscrupulous element. How is the role of a lady lawyer different from that of her male colleague in justice delivery system ?  A lady lawyer is more sensitive to the needs of the client. She perceives things differently than her male counterpart. Her approach is more balanced to issues of domestic violence, rape,...