L&T’s Menstrual Leave for Women Employees a Damage Control Mechanism?

Barely two months after L&T Chairman S N Subrahmanyan made headlines by advocating for a 90-hour work week, sparking debates about human rights of corporate employees and work-life balance, the MNC announced on Friday that it is introducing a one-day menstrual leave facility for female employees. The announcement made ahead of International Women’s Day has drawn ire of netizens who are slamming the gesture as more of a “damage control mechanism” rather than a beneficial step towards women employees.

The menstrual leave announcement was made during the company’s Women’s Day celebrations at L&T’s Powai office in Mumbai where Chairman Subrahmanyan addressed 350 women employees. The organisation’s workforce of 60,000 includes about 5,000 women employees, representing 9% of total staff.

Even though the provision for menstrual leave is a pioneering step for a progressive workplace policy in the industry that L&T operates in, but netizens are of the opinion that by announcing this the organisation is trying to reduce the damage caused by Subrahmanyan’s earlier controversial statement suggesting a 90-hour work week for employees while also expressing his disappointment about why employees do not work on Sundays.

Netizens react on X

Netizens reacted to the announcement with mockery and sarcasm on social media highlighting L&T Chairman Subrahmanyan’s “How long can you stare at your wife?” remark.

Taking to social media platform X, a user posted, “L&T’s new policy of 1-day menstrual leave is a ‘bloody’ gimmick. Who determined and on what basis that 1 day is adequate and why. So far, they managed without none. Every woman’s menstrual discomforts are different. Do these guys give menstrual leave to their domestic helps also?”

“First, weekends are useless because apparently staring at our wives is unbearable. Now, menstrual leave to show progressive leadership. Next ‘Recovery Leave’ for men exhausted from working 16-hour days!” expressed another user.

“Larsen & Toubro has announced a one-day paid menstrual leave for its female employees, benefiting around 5,000 women at its headquarters. What if the female employees start staring at their WFH husbands now? Has SNS thought through this drastic step?” reads another sarcastic X post.

“Yesterday: L&T chairman SN Subrahmanya said, How long can you stare at your wife? Today: One-day menstrual leave per month for women’s. Do you really have a respect on women?,” quizzed another X user reacting to a news post announcing L&T’s one-day menstrual leave for women.

“Larsen & Toubro chairman S N Subrahmanyan introduced a one-day menstrual leave every month for women employees. One more day for husbands to stare at their wives,” expressed another user.

L&T Chairman’s controversial statement

In January this year, the L&T Chairman S N Subrahmanyan sparked a fresh controversy in the work-life balance debate by advocating 90-hour work weeks for employees. “I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy, because I work on Sundays,” Subrahmanyan was heard saying in an undated video circulating on social media.

“What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? How long can the wives stare at their husbands? Come on, get to the office and start working,” he had further said in the video.

His comments sparked a backlash online, with many pointing out the difference between his salary and the median salary of L&T employees. In FY24, he took home Rs 51 crore, which included a base salary of Rs 3.6 crore, Rs 1.67 crore as prerequisites and Rs 35.28 crore as commission.