Visakhapatnam: Paternity leave comes as relief to RINL employees

Visakhapatnam: Taking care of the new-born baby is not just the responsibility of the mother but also the new fathers.

With the introduction of paternity leave (PL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) is making the dads shoulder equal responsibility of the newborn.

A male employee, trainee included, with less than two surviving children may be sanctioned paternity leave for a period of 15 days twice in the entire period of his service. In pursuant with the approval of the RINL board, the PL facility has been decided to introduce for the RINL employees recently.

Th PL may be availed 15 days before or within six months from the date of delivery of the child on submission of relevant documents.

In a majority of cases, moms who go through the normal delivery process will not have much of an issue in getting back to routine. However, it is not the same with those delivering the baby through cesarean procedure.

In such a scenario, PL brings in relief to the family members. Also, for new fathers, nurturing the day-old infant would be a memorable experience.

The PL will be a full-paid leave which is equal to the pay last drawn immediately before proceeding on leave. The RINL employee can avail the PL in maximum two spells on one occasion.

Further, PL shall also be extended on valid adoption of a child below the age of one year. In such cases, the leave may be sanctioned for a period of 15 days from the date of valid adoption on submission of relevant evidence.

However, PL will not be debited against the leave account and may be combined with any other leave except casual leave. It will also not be credited to the leave balance of the employee and if such leave is not availed within the stipulated period, it shall be treated as lapsed. Intervening holidays/weekly offs shall also be included in the Paternity Leave.

Recognised union of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant general secretary D Adi Narayana mentions that most of the employees recruited post 2015 were youngsters. "Approximately, the PL would provide relief to close to 3,000 employees working in various departments of RINL," he opines.