SC: Mandatory furloughs may deter companies from hiring women

NEW DELHI: Upset over an advocate’s repeated attempts to seek two days of paid menstrual leave per month for women workers through PILs, the Supreme Court on Friday said the move may create a psychological barrier in women and make them consider them inferior to men as they cannot work during menstruation. A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi of the CJI said, “Please understand the long-term implications of this move. Affirmative action for women is constitutionally recognized. The less attractive the human resources are, the less possibilities there are for consumption in the job market.” “We can rule from a rights perspective. But look at it from an employment model perspective. Will the employer be happy if the employee takes leave every month? You want to create a situation where the employer is not willing to give a woman a job,” the judge said. However, it said, “it is for the government to formulate model policies…”SC warns petitioners not to pursue issues On February 24, 2023, the SC asked the government to consider taking a policy decision on this issue after studying the need and possible consequences of employers being dissuaded from hiring large numbers of women in the workforce. Regarding the petitioner SM Tripathi, senior advocate MR Shamshad said that despite the passage of nearly three years, no action has been taken. Bihar has been doing this since 1992 and Karnataka has also implemented it in schools, Shamshad said. Some private companies have voluntarily implemented menstrual leave policies for female employees. CJI Surya Kant said, “If they do it voluntarily, it is welcome. But once it is forced to do so, you don’t know how much damage it will cause to their careers. No one will give them responsibility. In terms of justice, day-to-day trials cannot be assigned to them.”

The bench warned petitioner Tripathi that if he approaches the court on the issue for the third time, he will be subject to an adverse order. His petition raising the same issue was rejected twice, in February 2023 and July 2024. In February 2023, Spain became the first EU country to implement 3-5 days of menstrual leave, with wages paid by the government. The former Soviet Union had a policy that paid wages to female workers who missed work due to menstrual pain. Japan and South Korea enacted laws in this regard in 1947 and 1953 respectively.