Leave, Maternity Benefits and Holidays Under Indian EOR Employment

If you are employed in India through an Employer of Record, one worry comes up again and again: is your job a real job, with real leave? Will you get maternity benefits? Do you get the public holidays everyone else does?

Here is the reassuring truth. Employment through an EOR is same as a normal Indian employment. Your legal employer is an Indian company, so every leave, maternity, and holiday law that protects a regular Indian employee protects you too, in full.

This guide walks through exactly what you are entitled to: maternity benefits, your paid leave, and your holidays, and the few things worth checking to make sure you receive them.

EOR employees get the same leave as anyone else

The whole answer rests on one fact: who your legal employer is.

When a foreign company hires you through an EOR, the EOR, an Indian company, is your legal employer. You are on its payroll, under an Indian employment contract, exactly like an employee of any other Indian company. Our guide to who your legal employer is under an EOR explains this in full.

That single fact settles the leave question. India's leave, maternity, and holiday laws apply to employees of Indian establishments. Because the EOR is exactly that, you are covered by all of them. Your foreign employer being abroad changes nothing. You are not on a lesser arrangement, and your benefits are not watered down. They are the statutory entitlements every Indian employee has.

Maternity benefits under an EOR

Maternity benefit is the entitlement people most worry about losing, and it is fully intact for an EOR employee.

Under the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, which applies to establishments employing ten or more people, a woman employee is entitled to:

• 26 weeks of paid maternity leave for the first or second child, taken partly before and partly after delivery. For a third or later child, the entitlement is 12 weeks.
• 12 weeks for adoptive and commissioning mothers, counted from the day the child is handed over.
• 6 weeks of paid leave in the case of a miscarriage.
• Full pay during the leave, at your average daily wage, paid by your employer, which is the EOR.
• Protection and support around it, including nursing breaks after you return, a work-from-home option where the role allows, a creche facility in workplaces with 50 or more employees, and protection from dismissal on account of your maternity leave.

To be eligible, you must have worked at least 80 days in the 12 months before your expected date of delivery. As an EOR employee, your time on the EOR's payroll counts toward this. Our detailed guide to maternity leave in India covers the finer points and recent updates.

Your leave entitlement at a glance

Beyond maternity, you get the usual paid leave of an Indian employee. Here is the full picture in one view.

A few things are worth explaining behind that table.

Your earned, casual, and sick leave are governed by the Shops and Establishments Act of the state where you are employed, not by a single national rule. That is why the exact number of days differs between, say, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Earned leave usually accrues through the year and is often encashable when unused or when you leave. Our guide to leave of absence explains how these leave types work.

Paternity leave is the one gap to be realistic about. India has no statutory paternity leave for private-sector employees, so it is not something the law guarantees you through an EOR. Many employers offer it as a policy benefit, so it is worth asking whether yours does.

Public holidays

Holidays work on two levels in India, and you get both as an EOR employee.

First, there are 3 national holidays that every employee across the country receives: Republic Day on 26 January, Independence Day on 15 August, and Gandhi Jayanti on 2 October. These are fixed and non-negotiable.

On top of those, there are state and festival holidays, which vary by state and are notified each year. Employers usually publish a holiday calendar at the start of the year, choosing a set number of these festival holidays. The exact list depends on your state and your employer's calendar, which our guide to holidays in India lays out in detail.

So your total paid holidays are the 3 national ones plus your employer's chosen festival holidays for the year, the same way it works at any Indian company.

What actually decides your leave, and what to check

Since the law is the same for you as for anyone else, the real variables are your state and your employer's own policy. A few checks make sure you get what you are due.

• Know your state of employment. Your earned, casual, and sick leave follow the Shops and Establishments Act of the state you are employed in. That state, not your foreign employer's location, sets the numbers.
• Read the EOR's leave policy. Within the legal minimums, your EOR and the foreign company can offer more. Ask for the written leave policy so you know your exact days and how leave accrues and carries over.
• Get maternity and leave terms in the contract. Your entitlements are legal rights, but having them stated in your employment contract removes any doubt. Our list of questions to ask before signing an EOR contract includes leave and holidays.
• Clarify which holiday calendar you follow. You are legally entitled to Indian holidays, but some roles also observe the foreign team's calendar. Confirm which holidays you actually take off, so there are no surprises.

Conclusion

Employment through an EOR is real Indian employment, and your leave proves it. You get 26 weeks of maternity benefit, the earned, casual, and sick leave your state provides, and India's national and festival holidays, exactly like any other Indian employee.

The law is not the variable here. Your state and your employer's policy are. So learn your state's leave rules, read your EOR's policy, and get the terms in writing. Do that, and you can take your leave and your holidays with full confidence that they are yours by right.