Employment Act 1955 · Updated to 1 Aug 2023 · Part IX · Pregnancy and Maternity
40. Loss of maternity allowance for failure to notify employer
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A female employee leaving her job who has reason to believe she will be confined within four months of leaving must first tell her employer of her pregnancy. Otherwise, she is not entitled to maternity allowance from that employer. Within sixty days before her expected confinement, a female employee must tell her employer of it and her planned leave date.
Summary · Drafted with AI, checked against the official text on 30 Sep 2026.
A female employee who is about to leave her employment and who knows or has reason to believe that she will be confined within four months from the date upon which she leaves shall before leaving her employment notify her employer of her pregnancy and if she fails so to do, she shall not be entitled to receive any maternity allowance from such employer.
employee
“employee” means any person or class of persons— (a) included in any category in the First Schedule to the extent specified therein; or (b) in respect of whom the Minister makes an order under subsection (3) or section 2a;
Employment 45
A female employee shall within a period of sixty days immediately preceding her expected confinement notify her employer of it and the date from which she intends to commence her maternity leave and if she commences such leave without so notifying her employer, the payment of maternity allowance to her may be suspended, notwithstanding section 38, until such notice is given to her employer.
confinement
“confinement” means parturition resulting after at least twenty-two weeks of pregnancy in the issue of a child or children, whether alive or dead, and shall for the purposes of this Act commence and end on the actual day of birth and where two or more children are born at one confinement shall commence and end on the day of the birth of the last-born of such children, and the word “confined” shall be construed accordingly;
(Deleted by Act A1419).
Any female employee whose employer provides free medical treatment for his employees and who when she is pregnant persistently refuses or fails to submit to such medical treatment offered free by her employer as a registered medical practitioner certifies to be necessary or desirable in connection with her pregnancy, expected confinement or confinement shall, if she would otherwise be entitled to receive any maternity allowance, forfeit such allowance to the extent of seven days.
employer
“employer” means any person who has entered into a contract of service to employ any other person as an employee and includes the agent, manager or factor of such first mentioned person, and the word “employ”, with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, shall be construed accordingly;
The want of or any defect or inaccuracy in any notice required to be given in accordance with this section shall not be a bar to the maintenance of any claim to maternity allowance unless the employer is proved to have been prejudiced by the want, defect or inaccuracy of such notice.
The failure to give any such notice within the period specified in this section shall not prejudice the right of a female employee to receive any maternity allowance if it is found that the failure was occasioned by mistake or other reasonable cause:
Provided that any dispute as to whether such failure was occasioned by mistake or other reasonable cause shall be referred under section 69 to the Director General for his decision.
Director General
“Director General” means the Director General of Labour appointed under subsection 3(1);
Notice to an employer or, if there is more than one employer, to one of such employers, may be given either in writing or orally or to the foreman or other person under whose supervision the female employee was employed or to any person designated for the purpose by the employer.