You tell your manager you are pregnant. She says the company has no maternity leave policy. Maybe she hints that your job will not be there when you come back. Do not accept that quietly. Maternity leave in Pakistan is a legal right, and the employer has to pay for it. Here is what the law actually says, province by province.
How much maternity leave do you get in Pakistan?
There is no single national rule. Labour is a provincial matter, so each province has its own law. The short answer is:
- Punjab, Balochistan and Islamabad: 12 weeks of paid leave under the West Pakistan Maternity Benefit Ordinance 1958.
- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: 12 weeks of paid leave under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Maternity Benefits Act 2013.
- Sindh: 16 weeks of paid leave under the Sindh Maternity Benefits Act 2018.
- Federal government establishments: 180 days for the first birth under the Maternity and Paternity Leave Act 2023.
What does the 1958 Ordinance give you?
The West Pakistan Maternity Benefit Ordinance 1958 is the main law in Punjab, Balochistan and Islamabad. It was passed in 1958 and it still works today.
You get twelve weeks of maternity benefit at the rate of your last wages. Six weeks before delivery and six weeks after. You qualify if you have worked for the same employer for at least four months before the delivery date.
You give your employer notice that you expect to be confined within six weeks. After you show a medical certificate or proof of delivery, the payment is due within 48 hours.
One rule is strict. No employer may employ a woman during the six weeks after delivery, and no woman may work in that period. The six weeks after birth are compulsory rest. The full text of the law is here: West Pakistan Maternity Benefit Ordinance 1958.
What does Sindh give you?
Sindh passed its own law in 2018, and it is more generous. You get sixteen weeks of paid leave at full wages. Four weeks before the expected delivery date and twelve weeks after.
The qualifying period is longer. You must have worked for one continuous year for the employer.
Sindh law also thinks about what happens after you come back. Where women work in a factory, the Sindh Factories Act 2015 requires a day care room for children under six, and a feeding mother may visit it up to four times during the working day. The Sindh labour department lists the Sindh Maternity Benefits Act 2018 among the laws it enforces. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's own law, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Maternity Benefits Act 2013, keeps the same twelve weeks as the 1958 Ordinance.
Federal government employees: the 2023 Act
In 2023 the National Assembly passed the Maternity and Paternity Leave Act. It covers public and private establishments under the administrative control of the federal government.
A female employee gets 180 days on full pay for the first birth, 120 days for the second, and 90 days for the third. This leave sits outside the leave account, so it does not eat your annual leave. A male employee gets 30 days of paid paternity leave for each birth, up to three times in his service.
Breaking this Act is an offence. The punishment is imprisonment up to six months, a fine up to one hundred thousand rupees, or both. The full text of the Maternity and Paternity Leave Act 2023 is on the National Assembly website.
Can you be fired because you are pregnant?
Not during maternity leave. Under the 1958 Ordinance it is not lawful for the employer to give you a dismissal notice during your leave, or on a day that makes the notice expire during the leave. If you are dismissed within six months before delivery without sufficient cause, the dismissal does not take away your maternity benefit.
Sindh goes further. The 2018 Act bars dismissal during the leave, and in the six months before it, where the purpose is to avoid paying the benefit.
The courts have pushed in the same direction. In 2022 the Lahore High Court held that denying maternity leave can amount to forced labour, which Article 11 of the Constitution forbids, and that the right exists even when the contract says nothing about it. The judgment is reported as 2023 PLD 416 Lahore.
What your employer cannot do
- Dismiss you during maternity leave.
- Dismiss you within six months before delivery to dodge the benefit. The dismissal does not cancel it.
- Ask you to work in the six weeks after delivery.
- Pay you less during the leave. It is your ordinary wage.
- Refuse leave because the contract is silent. The right comes from the law, not the contract.
What if your employer refuses?
First, put it in writing. Ask for the leave and the payment in a written application, and keep a copy.
Then go to the labour department of your province. Under the 1958 Ordinance the complaint goes to the Inspector of Factories, and it must be made within six months of the offence. An employer who breaks the Ordinance is liable to a fine, and a court may order part of that fine to be paid to you as compensation. In Sindh you can file a complaint with the Sindh labour department online.
If that does not work, the labour court is the next stop. You do not need to fight alone.
Who is not covered?
These laws protect women employed in establishments: factories, shops and offices. Domestic workers, home based workers and women agricultural workers often fall outside that box. Sindh has separate laws for home based workers and women agricultural workers, but they are new and enforcement is uneven. If you work informally, ask at the labour department whether a law covers you.
What it means for you
Maternity leave in Pakistan is paid, protected and provincial. Know your province, count your weeks, and keep your paperwork. If an employer refuses, the law is on your side.
Worker protection is a connected story. The guide to child labour law in Pakistan and what the law does and doesn't do to stop child labour show how the same enforcement gap plays out elsewhere. If you are pushed out of your job and cannot afford a lawyer, the guide to free legal aid in Pakistan explains how to get help without paying. And if you are paid less than the law allows, the guide to the minimum wage in Pakistan explains what every worker is owed and how to claim it. If someone harasses you at work, the workplace harassment law in Pakistan explains your options. Browse the Lexiber blog or ask on the Lexiber home page.
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