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Food for thought.

The law is Silent on this, I will advise you allow her decide when to resume within the 3Months Maternity leave days that she had been granted.

If she wants to stay back the whole 3 months well and good, If she will only require one month of it and after that she will be fit to resume then fine as well. Give her the liberty to decide within the time frames granted. It is always important for us HRPs to view employees as Humans first then resources next.

Accord her 3 months but if it was a stillbirth, employment law gives only 1 month.

Any reference in terms of the Act?

Although not asserted yet, the draft amendment section 29 of No. 11 of 2007 . Section 29 of the principal act

We are getting there anyway.

The law is silent on this, but it leaves it open for individual employers to decide or to apply own policies, if you have any. Whatever decision you make, there has to be an emotional aspect to it because here’s a colleague who has been expectant for nine months and the baby just died immediately after birth. That’s a difficult moment for them as a family. My thinking would be the lady applied for maternity leave and it was granted, so the proper procedure was followed and the leave was granted. It becomes complicated to try to recall her on the basis of the fact that since her baby is lost, the purpose for which maternity leave had been granted no longer exists. An alternative would be to negotiate with the affected employee and due respect should be given to their wishes in this scenario. It is one of those situations where an organization needs to exercise compassion even if you have a policy in place. In fact, some find it very difficult to stay at home after such an experience and would volunteer to return to work and forego the rest of the maternity. The law does not give direction on the matter, it is upon every org to provide for such a situation.