The ruling declares that termination during approved maternity leave is illegal, awarding the complainant Rs 500,000 in compensation.
Pakistan’s Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (FOSPAH) has ordered a private organisation to reinstate a woman who was dismissed while on approved maternity leave. The ruling declared the termination illegal and directed the employer to pay Rs 500,000 in compensation, according to Dawn.
The decision found that motherhood cannot serve as grounds for dismissal, and that ending a woman’s employment during protected maternity leave amounts to unlawful discrimination. Alongside the financial award, the ombudsperson ordered that the complainant be restored to her former position on the same terms and conditions that applied before her leave began.
The compensation was described as redress for the loss, humiliation and hardship the woman suffered. The order also provided that, should she choose to resign instead of returning, the organisation must issue her a proper service and experience certificate that accurately reflects her employment and is free of any adverse or stigmatising remarks.
How the Maternity Leave Dismissal Case Unfolded
The details set out in the complaint trace a steady escalation. The woman had joined the organisation as a human resources executive in November 2024 and was granted six months of paid maternity leave, running from 13 November 2025 to 13 May 2026, with the express approval of management.
During that leave, according to the complaint, management repeatedly pressed her to return to work before her approved period had ended. She explained that she could not come back early, citing her recovery from a caesarean section, the young age of her child and the absence of adequate childcare arrangements.
The pressure did not ease. Before her sanctioned leave expired, she was told via WhatsApp that management had decided she should resign, and that her notice period had already begun. She was then given a choice between resigning and facing termination. Despite being on approved leave, and without any disciplinary proceedings, warning or show-cause notice, her official email account and access to workplace systems were revoked.
What the FOSPAH Ruling Ordered
The ombudsperson’s directions addressed both the specific case and the conduct that led to it. The order declared that the woman’s termination during approved maternity leave was illegal, and required the organisation to reinstate her to her previous role under the same conditions that existed before her maternity leave.
The Rs 500,000 payment was ordered as compensation for the loss, humiliation and hardship she experienced. The ruling also built in a safeguard for the alternative outcome, specifying that if the complainant elected to resign, the organisation would still have to provide a clean and accurate service certificate carrying no negative or stigmatic remarks.
The case was handled under the framework that governs workplace protections for women in Pakistan, which treats adverse action tied to pregnancy or maternity status as a matter of gender-based discrimination rather than routine employment dispute.
Workplace Maternity Rights in Pakistan
The ruling adds to a series of recent decisions in which the ombudsperson’s office has taken up cases involving the treatment of pregnant and post-partum employees. These decisions have consistently held that maternity protections are firm entitlements rather than discretionary benefits, and that dismissing or pressuring a woman because of her maternity status is unlawful.
For working mothers across the country, the outcome reinforces a clear standard. An employer cannot lawfully use maternity leave, or a woman’s inability to cut that leave short, as a reason to end her employment. The order also signals that the manner of dismissal matters, with the revoking of workplace access and the delivery of the decision by WhatsApp forming part of the conduct the ombudsperson examined.
The decision stands as a further reference point for how Pakistani workplaces are expected to handle employees on maternity leave, placing the responsibility on employers to conduct such matters lawfully and with due process. As the ombudsperson’s office continues to hear similar complaints, the ruling contributes to a growing body of decisions defining the rights of women at work during pregnancy and after childbirth.
