Maternity Leave/Rights/Employment Law

[Miss]

Hi Girls

Over the past 2 days I have been in talks with my boss with reference to my holidays and bank holidays. I could not find any clear cut information to my question on the internet so I finally called ACAS last night and have had it all sorted out with my boss this morning!

Wanted to pass on the info for anyone else currently confused - lacking information.

My contact states I am entitled to 25 days holiday + Statutory Holidays - 3 day must be kept for the Christmas period

I will be on Maternity leave from May 2011 and have stated I will not return to work until 2012. My boss was adament I still had to keep those 3 days for christmas and could not take them as holiday.

ACAS has advised this to be untrue and that all 25 days can be taken as holiday when I chose to take them as I will be on Maternity leave over Christmas.

They have also advised because my contact states I get Statutory Holidays that any bank holidays occuring while I am on Maternity leave should be added as extra days to my holiday entitlement.

They have also advised me because of how Christmas falls this year (2011) there will be 2 extra Bank Holidays - which should also be added on to my Holiday entitlement!

If you are unsure or just curious that you are getting to right ammount of holiday/leave please contact them for advice http://www.acas.org.uk telephone number is on the site.

xx

 

[Esoames]

Good advice. Glad it's sorted for you, this is how I've got 37 days leave!! Lol

 

[XHopefulX]

Luckily enough I didn't have to go through all that carry on and my Christmas holidays will be added to the end of my maternity.. they just try to confuse matters so that you come back early!! xx

 

[Miss]

Esoames - Wow now that is impressive lol xx

Hopeful - My boss should know better! After 5 years he should know damn well it does not work and I will search until I find the relevant correct information - you know this has made me even more determined to not return back to working here after my leave has finished! xx

I just wanted to make sure that anyone who was confused or unsure be aware they can find out what they are entitled and that they do not have to take their employers word for it

 

[Vicxzy]

My employers have been total swines since I announced I was pregnant so this is good to know, thanks Hun x

 

[setdse]

Hopeful - My boss should know better! After 5 years he should know damn well it does not work and I will search until I find the relevant correct information - you know this has made me even more determined to not return back to working here after my leave has finished! xx

Because they have risen the length of leave to 36w paid, i was told that you have to return to work for a min of 6months or you have to pay the allowance back.... :/

 

[setdse]

scrap that last post.... just researched it and you dont.

 

[Miss]

Vicxzy - my boss has been awful since I told him I was pregnant too hun - it's upset me tbh! xx

Setdse - you only have to return to work or pay back maternity pay if your company has a better maternity package than the min I believe hun xx

 

[Alexandra84]

We've been researching this recently as we've been trying for a few months. My husband was frankly a bit shocked at the lack of support that you get offered in this country if you get pregnant.

There is a statutory maternity leave but almost all of the cost of this is borne by the employer (the money a small company would get from the government to fund parental leave is peanuts! Perhaps why bosses get upset...).The maternity support package that you get in Spain, for example, is apparently much more generous, and the government foots more of the bill.

Fortunately for me, I work from home so this is a bit of a moot point for me. However, what would happen if we had any other employees that got pregnant? Frankly, we're a very small employer and we'd probably go bankrupt.

 

[Miss]

There is a statutory maternity leave but almost all of the cost of this is borne by the employer (the money a small company would get from the government to fund parental leave is peanuts! Perhaps why bosses get upset...).

I work for a small company - basically Director, myself and an Admin lad - the company has a company who are basically our accounts, HR people (they handle everything from my bosses car insurance, to company taxation. When I told my boss I was pregnant an email was sent to this company asking where we went from here and and email came back explaining my basic rights and the rights of the company along with a couple of pdf documents concerning the subject.

Taken from the email -
"In a nutshell, Donna will need a MAT B1 certificate from the doctor/midwife confirming the due date. If you could then forward that to me as I will then need to work out her maternity pay. Basically she can have up to 12 month off with 39 weeks paid. The first 6 weeks are at 90% of her average weekly pay, and then 33 weeks at Statutory Maternity Pay currently £124.88 per week. However I cannot confirm any figures until I am in receipt of the MAT B1.
As you are classed as a small company, we claim back 92% + 4.5% compensation from HMRC and we get this back straight away via the PAYE slip"


So please do not be afraid to take on any other employees hun - I think the information you have found is for large companies only.

Plus there is no excuse for employers being funny with you when you are trying to take what you are entitled after a long period of service....personally, in the 5 years I have worked here I don't think I have ever taken my full yearly holiday entitlement.....

 

[Alexandra84]

Taken from the email -
"In a nutshell, Donna will need a MAT B1 certificate from the doctor/midwife confirming the due date. If you could then forward that to me as I will then need to work out her maternity pay. Basically she can have up to 12 month off with 39 weeks paid. The first 6 weeks are at 90% of her average weekly pay, and then 33 weeks at Statutory Maternity Pay currently £124.88 per week. However I cannot confirm any figures until I am in receipt of the MAT B1.
As you are classed as a small company, we claim back 92% + 4.5% compensation from HMRC and we get this back straight away via the PAYE slip"


So please do not be afraid to take on any other employees hun - I think the information you have found is for large companies only.

Hmm. Thanks, that sounds quite different to what we found. When it says, "claim back 92%+4.5% compensation", is that for the salary paid while you're off in the first 6 weeks or for the SMP that follows, or both? I'm assuming that both get paid by the company, who then need to reclaim these costs from the HMRC

Sigh,.. why can't they make things easier to find out for small businesses

 

[LouLou1986]

im bank staff so i dnt get any holiday unless ive earnt it

 

[Miss]

Alexandra - Yes hun the company will carry on paying me all throughout my maternity leave - however I am only a cost to the company for the first 6 weeks as I understand it - this what my boss mentioned in the conversation we had last week anyways. It is an odd set up but one obviously put in place to protect small business'.

LouLou - are you sure about that? I suppose it would depend on when your financial year begins and finishes - we run Jan to Jan and as I am not planning on returning to work until the next year (Feb) it would be illegal for my boss not to let me take my holiday before going on maternity....Still I would look into it if I was you hun, it's worth an ask

 

[LouLou1986]

mines april to april hun and as i dnt have a normal contract i wudnt be working to earn the hoilday :/

 

[Miss]

ahhh I see - your's is like a tempory contract? or a rolling contract?

That is rubbish.....

 

[LouLou1986]

not sure tbh they just class me as 'Bank'