SBI keeps revised recruitment rules for pregnant women in abeyance

SBI had put in place new rules wherein a woman candidate with more than three months pregnancy will be considered 'temporarily unfit' and can join the bank within four months after delivery

Amid public outrage, State Bank of India (SBI) on Saturday said it has decided to put in abeyance its revised instructions regarding recruitment of pregnant women candidates, wherein it had said women over 3 months pregnant are “temporarily unfit” for service.

The revised recruitment instructions from SBI had drawn criticism from several quarters.

“In view of the public sentiments, SBI has decided to keep the revised instructions regarding recruitment of pregnant women candidates in abeyance and continue with the existing instructions in the matter," SBI said in a statement. SBI has always been proactive towards the care and empowerment of its women employees who now constitute around 25 per cent of our workforce, the country's largest public lender said.

In a circular, the bank had earlier said, if the woman is pregnant for more than three months, her candidature will be considered temporarily unfit and she will be allowed to join within four months after delivery of child. These instructions were part of SBI's recent exercise of reviewing the various fitness standards for recruitment in the bank, including norms for pregnant women candidates.

The revised guidelines were intended to provide clarity on various health parameters where instructions were not clear or were very old. In some sections of the media, the revision in norms in this regard has been interpreted as discriminatory against women, the bank said.

Currently, the norm is pregnant women of up to 6 months were allowed to join the bank, subject to certain conditions.

The Delhi Commission of Women had taken cognisance of the SBI circular and had issued a notice to the bank to withdraw the “anti-women” rule. Swati Maliwal, Chairperson, Delhi Council of Women, in her letter to the Chairman of SBI had written that the “action of the bank appears to be discriminatory and illegal as it is contrary to maternity benefits provided under The Code of Social Security, 2020”. Further, she wrote, it discriminates on the basis of sex, which is against the fundamental rights provided under the Constitution of India.