Pregnant Women Employees Exempted From Attending Office: Union Minister

Pregnant employees who are not already on maternity leave will also be exempted. (Representational)

Pregnant women employees will be exempted from attending office, Union minister Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday.

He said a circular to this effect has been issued and is expected to be followed by different ministries and departments as well as the states and Union territories.

"Pregnant women employees who are not already on maternity leave will also be exempted from attending office. Persons with disabilities are also to be given a similar exemption from attending office," Mr Singh, the Union minister of state for personnel, said.

A latest circular issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) also states that the government servants who have underlying co-morbidities and were undergoing treatment for these ailments before the lockdown, may, as far as possible, be exempted upon production of a medical prescription from the treating physician.

"What is important is to strictly observe staggered timings for the arrival and departure of the officers and staff. In order to avoid unnecessary crowding, all the heads of departments have been advised to ensure three sets of timings," the minister said.

These would be 9 am to 5 pm, 9:30 am to 6 pm and 10 am to 6:30 pm respectively.

While the officers at the level of deputy secretary and above are expected to attend office on all working days, the officers and staff below the level of deputy secretary will attend office every alternate day and those not attending office should work from home and remain available on telephone and electronically, a statement issued by the personnel ministry said.

Mr Singh appreciated the staff in the ministry for having continued to work with full commitment during the entire lockdown.

In fact, he said some of the staff members were working from home even during the weekends, which normally does not happen when the offices are closed.

Every care has been taken to ensure that while the offices continue to function, the welfare and safety of officials is not overlooked, Mr Singh said.