While you are on leave
While you are on maternity or adoption leave, you have almost all of the same rights as you do when you're at work. You are still entitled to your usual amount of annual leave, and if you usually have perks like use of a company car, gym membership, or health or life insurance these continue while you are on leave. If opportunities for promotion or pay increases come up while you are on leave, you should be included (if you aren't it could be sex-discrimination). If you are made redundant, you will still be entitled to redundancy pay.
However, there are a few things that aren't quite so straight-forward. You are only entitled to pension contributions from your employer for the first 6 months of your leave (the law may change soon in this area). If you are sacked at any point during your leave, you are only entitled to the legal minimum notice pay. If your employer has a more generous notice policy, you are only entitled to the legal minimum, along with any remaining maternity pay that you are owed under your contract.
If you get any extra payments as part of your salary (this might be anything that is shown separately on your pay slip - for example, a car allowance) you may or may not be entitled to them whilst on leave. The law is unclear, so if you are usually paid an allowance like this but don’t get the allowance during your leave you might want to speak to an adviser about whether or not you should challenge it. See How to find an adviser.
Bonuses are a particularly tricky area in the law. If you have missed out on a bonus, you should speak to an adviser. See How to find an adviser.
Working
You can work for your boss for up to 10 days during your leave without it causing a problem for your rights to maternity or adoption leave and pay. Your boss doesn't have to offer you this, and you don't have to do it if they do. It is upto you to agree between you if this would be helpful and, if so, what you should be paid.
You cannot work for another employer during your leave, but you can do self-employed work.
Redundancy
There are special protections for people on maternity and adoption leave. If you are made redundant, you must be offered any suitable alternative work first, before any of your colleagues, and you should not have to apply for it.
Ask Bev!
My boss keeps putting pressure on me to work during my maternity leave. What can I do?
Your boss has no right to ask you to work during maternity leave if you don’t want to. Write and tell him that you are on maternity leave and that right now caring for your new child is what you want to do. Remind him of the date you will go back to work. If you are looking forward to it, say so as it will give him a bit of encouragement. See your handbook or intranet, or speak to someone from HR about your work's procedure for formal complaints.
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I am due to return to work in 1 month’s time but haven't taken any holiday this year. When can I take it?
You are still entitled to paid holiday, even if you are on leave. Most organisations are quite flexible about when you can take it. Most women add the holiday onto their Maternity Leave/Adoption Leave. Some women have paid holiday during their leave, or get paid a lump sum at the end. Whatever happens, you have a right to take your holiday at some point other than during your leave. Write and let your boss know when you want to take your holiday.
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I am still on maternity leave and I'm pregnant again. My boss is going to go ballistic. What can I do?
You are in for a busy time! If you want to go back to work early then you don’t need to write to your boss to say that you are pregnant again, but you should probably let them know. They are not allowed to treat you badly because of your second pregnancy, that would be discrimination.
You have a right to take any leave and pay that is still due from your first pregnancy. Your employment will continue without a break. You may even be able to get Statutory Maternity Pay for your second leave – go and see an adviser. If you can’t get SMP, check to see if you can get Maternity Allowance.
If you take maternity leave for your second child straight after maternity leave for your first, you will still have the right to return to the same job, or (if there is a good reason why this is not possible) to another similar job with the same pay and benefits. If you went back to work for even one day between the 2 periods of maternity leave you will have the right to return to exactly the same job if you went back six months after the birth of your second baby.
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I have had 6 months off on maternity leave and I'm certain I don't want to go back to work. What do I need to tell my boss?
The best thing to do is to write to your boss and tell him/her that you don’t want to come back to work. Check your contract of employment. It should tell you how much notice you have to give. You may be entitled to less notice pay than you would normally get under your contract if you resign during maternity leave. If you don’t have a contract, you will need to give 1 week's notice for every full year you have worked there. If you have worked for the organisation for more than 12 years, you only need to give 12 weeks notice. All your rights stay the same during your notice period. You should ask them to pay you any other money, such as holiday pay.
Even if you have left, your boss will still have to pay you Statutory Maternity Pay for the full 39 weeks. (If you receive maternity allowance, you will get that for 39 weeks).
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I am on adoption leave and have just got a letter from my boss firing me. She says that my work is not up to standard. Can I appeal?
Did she mention any problems with your work before you went on leave? What was your last work review like? If there were no problems with your work before your leave then it sounds like it might be unfair dismissal, and possibly sex discrimination, which is against the law.
Your boss should have told you about your right to appeal in your letter. If she didn't, then this might also be unfair.
If you took it to a tribunal, you may also be able to argue that it is discrimination because it is usually women rather than men that take time off for adoption leave. However, if your boss can come up with a good reason why they fired you, you might not win a tribunal.
It is advisable that you put your complaint in writing to your employer first. See your intranet or speak to someone from HR for details of your work's procedure.
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Before I went on maternity leave, my boss agreed that I could use the intranet to keep up to date on the upgrading of my post, but then he didn't sort it out. Now everyone has been moved to a higher salary band except me. Should I complain?
This sounds like possible sex discrimination and your boss may also have broken a term of your contract. Being on maternity leave should not have stopped your boss from making sure you didn't miss out. By not sorting the intranet out, he failed to let you have information that you needed about the regrading. Or your boss could have changed your salary scale before you went on maternity leave.
Write to your boss and ask him to send you information on the changing of salary scale. You should make sure that you are on the same scale and salary as the others. If you're not, get some legal advice.
If the others had their grade changed before 6th April 2009, you must make a formal written complaint before you could complain to a tribunal. See your intranet or speak to someone from HR for details of your work's complaint procedure.
