period of 6 months from the date of confinement or such longer period as may be recommended by a medical practitioner. 156. In August 2018, the eligibility to maternity leave with pay was extended to female workers employed in both the Public and Private Sector who reckoning less than 12 months of continuous service. The restriction of 3 confinements which is applicable in the Public Sector has been removed in July 2019. 157. Government has come forth with the notion of “work from home” in our work culture with a view to better supporting young working mothers, particularly, to fulfil their family obligations and to further facilitating their integration in the labour market; and pening up new avenues and opportunities for work among young persons, other than at the traditional workplace, especially with the increasing advent of technological innovations. 158. Section 76 of the Employment Relations Act provides that every worker has the right to strike and every employer may have recourse to a lock-out, where: (a) a labour dispute has been reported to the Commission for Conciliation and Mediation and no agreement has been reached; (b) the parties to the labour dispute have not elected to refer the dispute for voluntary arbitration to the Employment Relations Tribunal or to an arbitrator appointed by them; (c) a strike ballot has been successfully taken after due notice has been given to the Supervising Officer of the Ministry of Labour, Industrial Relations, Employment and Training; and (d) a notice of the strike or lock-out has been given to the Minister of Labour. WORKERS’ RIGHTS BILL 159. In the Budget 2019-20, Government has announced that a new Workers’ Rights Bill would be introduced to recognise the full length of service of a worker, irrespective of the number of employers he has worked for, in the new mechanism for computation of gratuity. Broad consensus has been reached, among representatives of employers, trade unions and Government for the introduction of the new mechanism. A Portable Retirement Gratuity Fund will be set up for that purpose. The Bill was passed in the National Assembly in August 2019 but has not yet been promulgated. 160. The Workers’ Rights Act also provides for a Wage Guarantee Fund which will guarantee remuneration up to Rs 50,000 to workers who lose their jobs in case of insolvency. 161. In collaboration with the Skills Working Group (SWG), which is a joint public–private initiative and the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC), three training programmes are 89