Fertility and IVF leave in India
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
Fertility and IVF treatment leave is not yet a statutory entitlement in India — no central law requires employers to grant paid leave specifically for fertility procedures. That said, a growing number of employers are creating clear policies voluntarily, and existing leave frameworks offer some practical cover in the meantime.
What the law currently says
India's primary maternity legislation — the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961, as amended in 2017 — protects women during and after pregnancy but does not address the treatment phase that precedes it. Fertility procedures such as IVF cycles, egg retrieval, embryo transfers and related consultations fall outside its scope.
Sick leave under the Factories Act and various state shops-and-establishments acts may be used if a doctor certifies the employee is medically unfit to work. This covers recovery after procedures like egg retrieval or embryo transfer but not routine monitoring appointments where the employee is technically well.
The four consolidated Labour Codes, which are in force from 2025, consolidate earlier labour legislation but do not introduce any new fertility-specific entitlement. The gap in the law is real and employers should not assume they are covered just by following the statutory minimums.
How existing leave types can help
Until a specific policy exists, employees typically piece together cover from:
Sick leave. Most organisations provide around 12 days of sick leave per year. A treating doctor can certify each procedure day or recovery period. This works for surgical steps but feels inadequate for a full IVF cycle, which typically involves two to four weeks of monitoring, injections and procedure appointments per cycle.
Casual or personal leave. Employees often use casual leave for clinic visits that do not require a sick certificate. The downside is that casual leave balances are usually small and get exhausted quickly across multiple cycles.
Annual or earned leave. Employees may choose to use earned leave to bridge the gap. This protects income but depletes the leave balance an employee may need later in pregnancy or for personal emergencies.
None of these options is designed for fertility treatment. Relying on them signals to employees that their situation is not genuinely supported — even when individual managers are sympathetic.
What a voluntary fertility leave policy should cover
If you are building a policy from scratch, these are the areas worth thinking through:
Scope. Define which treatments are included — IVF, IUI, egg freezing, donor cycles, surrogacy arrangements and treatment for male partners should all be considered. A narrow policy that covers only IVF misses many employees in active treatment.
Paid or unpaid. Leading employers are offering between 5 and 10 days of paid fertility leave per treatment cycle, separate from sick and earned leave. Some cap total leave across all cycles (for example, three cycles); others leave it uncapped. Paid leave removes a material financial barrier.
Who it applies to. The policy should cover all employees regardless of gender, marital status or whether they are undergoing treatment personally or supporting a partner. Male employees managing sperm retrieval procedures or accompanying partners to critical appointments have legitimate needs too.
Confidentiality. Fertility treatment is deeply private. The policy should state clearly that employees are not required to disclose their diagnosis, the type of treatment or its outcome to receive leave. A self-declaration or a brief note from the treating clinic (without diagnosis detail) should be sufficient.
Flexibility. IVF appointments are often confirmed at short notice depending on hormone response. Build in the ability for employees to take leave on short notice — two hours' notice rather than two days' notice — for monitoring appointments.
The business case for acting now
Staff going through fertility treatment are managing significant physical and emotional strain alongside their work. Without a clear policy, they are making guesses about how supportive their employer really is, using sick leave under vague pretexts or simply not disclosing what is happening at all.
A written policy removes ambiguity. It also helps HR and line managers respond consistently — the manager who wants to be supportive now has something to point to rather than making ad hoc decisions that may not be replicated elsewhere in the organisation.
Retention matters here too. Fertility treatment typically spans months or years. Employees who feel unsupported during that period often leave. The cost of replacing an experienced employee almost always exceeds the cost of a few additional paid leave days.
Practical steps to get started
Start by reviewing what your current leave policy actually says — most say nothing specific about fertility. Consult employees or run an anonymous survey if you want to understand the demand before drafting.
When drafting, keep the language simple and the eligibility criteria broad. Run the draft by legal counsel to check alignment with your applicable state shops-and-establishments rules and any sector-specific regulations.
Communicate the policy clearly when it launches. A policy that exists in an HR handbook but is never mentioned is little better than no policy at all.
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