Crèche Facility at Work: Your Section 67 Right in India

If your workplace employs fifty or more people, the law says it must arrange a crèche so a mother can keep her baby close and visit during the day. That right no longer comes from the old Maternity Benefit Act. Since the labour codes were brought into force on 21 November 2025, it lives in Section 67 of the Code on Social Security, 2020, and quoting the correct law is what makes your complaint land.

Run through this before you do anything else.

• Do fifty or more people work here? Section 67 counts all employees, not only women. If yes, the crèche duty can apply.
• Is this a factory, mine, plantation, or a larger shop or establishment? The crèche section sits inside the maternity-benefit chapter of the Code, which covers those establishments. Government establishments are included.
• Is it a public authority or a private company? Both must follow the labour law. But only a government body or public-sector employer can be asked for records under the RTI Act, 2005. More on that below.

If the first two lines are a yes, read on. If your workplace is smaller than fifty, the crèche duty in Section 67 will usually not bite, though other maternity rights in the Code still may.

Search for crèche rules today and almost every blog will tell you the right comes from Section 11A of the Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. That was true for years. It is not true now.

Section 164 of the Code on Social Security, 2020 repeals a list of nine older labour laws. The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 is on that list. It has been repealed and folded into the Code. The four labour codes were brought into force on 21 November 2025, so the Code is the operating law today.

Why does the citation matter to you and not just to lawyers? Because a complaint that quotes a repealed section is easy for an employer or an officer to brush aside. If your written grievance says “under Section 11A of the Maternity Benefit Act”, the reply can simply be that the section no longer exists. Quote Section 67 of the Code on Social Security, 2020 and you are standing on the law that is actually in force.

One reassurance: the Code has a savings clause. Section 164(2) says that rules, notifications, schemes and benefits made under the repealed Acts are treated as made under the matching provisions of the Code and continue in force, so long as they do not clash with the Code. So older maternity schemes and benefits did not vanish on 21 November 2025. They carried over. What changed is the name and number of the section you cite.

Here is what the crèche provision actually says, so you are not relying on anyone's paraphrase.

Section 67(1) requires that every establishment the chapter applies to, in which fifty employees, or such number as the Central Government may prescribe, are employed, must have a crèche facility within such distance as the Central Government may prescribe, either on its own or as a shared facility.

Two provisos follow, and they are the parts most useful to a mother:

• The employer must allow four visits a day to the crèche by the woman, and those four visits also include the rest intervals she is already allowed. In plain words, the four visits are not on top of your rest breaks. Your rest break time is counted inside the four visits.
• The establishment may use a shared crèche. This can be one run by the Central Government, a State Government, a municipality, a private entity, a non-governmental organisation, or a group of establishments that pool resources to set up a common crèche.

Section 67(2) adds a duty that is easy to miss. At the time of a woman's initial appointment, the establishment must inform her in writing and electronically about every benefit available to her. So you are entitled to be told about the crèche and other maternity benefits when you join, not left to find out on your own.

A few honest limits worth stating plainly:

• The distance of the crèche from the workplace is whatever the Central Government prescribes by rule. This article does not put a number in metres on it, because that figure depends on a notified rule you should confirm before relying on it.
• The threshold is fifty employees, counting everyone, not fifty women.
• The exact list of establishments the chapter covers, and any smaller-employer thresholds, sit in the applicability section of the maternity-benefit chapter. Treat coverage as “the establishments covered by the maternity-benefit chapter of the Code” rather than a single fixed number.

If your employer is covered but there is no crèche, or you are being refused your visits, escalate in order. Keep every step in writing.

1. Raise it internally, on paper. Send a short written request to your HR or manager. Cite Section 67 of the Code on Social Security, 2020. Ask specifically for the crèche facility and for your four permitted visits a day. Keep a copy and note the date.
2. Approach the labour authority. If HR does not act, take your written complaint to the labour enforcement machinery that administers the Code for your establishment. Bring your appointment letter, your written request to HR, and any reply. Enforcement of labour law sits with the appropriate government's officers, so this is the correct door after internal channels fail.
3. Put a formal written complaint on record. A dated, signed complaint that quotes the correct section and lists what you asked for and when creates a paper trail. That trail is what an inspection or a later proceeding will rely on.

Only pursue steps you can document. This article does not quote a penalty figure, because the specific amounts and the officer designations should be confirmed from a government source before you rely on them in a formal notice.

For a deeper walk-through of drafting, following up, and escalating a citizen grievance, see The RTI Playbook.

The RTI Act, 2005 is a powerful add-on here, but only against the right kind of employer.

RTI reaches public authorities. If you work for a government office, a public-sector undertaking, a government school, hospital, or any body substantially financed by the government, you can file an RTI application and ask for:

• The circulars or office orders on providing a crèche in your establishment.
• Inspection reports relating to crèche or maternity-benefit compliance.
• The number of women employees and whether a crèche has been sanctioned or set up.
• Any file notings on your own written request, if you have already raised one.

RTI does not reach a private company. A purely private employer is not a public authority, so you cannot file an RTI directly against it. What you can do is file an RTI with the government department that regulates or inspects that sector, asking for inspection reports, complaints received, or action taken on crèche compliance for establishments in your area. That routes your question through a public authority that does hold relevant records.

For the mechanics of framing and filing, see the guide to the RTI Act, 2005.

No. Section 67 counts fifty employees in total, not fifty women. If your establishment has fifty or more people on its rolls and is covered by the maternity-benefit chapter, the crèche duty can apply even if only a handful of them are women.

No, and this is widely misstated. Section 67 says the four visits a day “shall also include the intervals of rest allowed to her”. Your rest interval time is counted inside the four visits, not added to them.

No. The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 has been repealed by Section 164 of the Code on Social Security, 2020 and folded into it. The crèche right now lives in Section 67 of the Code. Older schemes and benefits carried over under the savings clause in Section 164(2), but you should cite the Code, not the old Act.

Not directly against the company, because a private employer is not a public authority under the RTI Act, 2005. You can still file an RTI with the government department that inspects and regulates workplaces, asking for inspection reports, complaints, or action taken on crèche compliance in your area.

The Code says the crèche must be within such distance as the Central Government prescribes by rule. This article does not state a fixed number of metres, because that depends on a notified rule you should confirm before relying on it. Ask your HR or the labour authority for the current prescribed distance.

• Recovering unpaid minimum wages under the Code on Wages