Surrogacy and Paid Family Leave
In New Delhi, India, female employees of the federal government can now apply for paid family leave if they have a child through surrogacy. The new decision from the personnel ministry came when a mother had twins through the assisted family planning process, yet was denied paid family leave because she was not the biological mother.
After petitioning for family leave, an authority would then decide on the timing and the amount of time the paid family leave would take place taking into consideration the specific facts of the case. Paid family leave is guaranteed up to 26 weeks, or about 180 days to the commissioning mothers. The official order of the personnel ministry also states that the
commissioning mother can apply for family leave during the pre-natal stage of the pregnancy, although this request will go through more scrutiny in comparison to the request after the birth of
the child or children. If both the surrogate and the commissioning mother are government employees, both would be able to petition for family leave as well.
To learn more about the surrogate process, or to seek counsel for a family planning process or any other family law matters, please do not hesitate to contact Evie P. Jeang, Managing Partner of Ideal Legal Group and Founder of Surrogacy Concierges.