Maternity leave letter
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My maternity starts 1st April and I'm taking 2.5 weeks beforehand. If they don't let you take your annual leave (which i don't think they can do that) make sure you can carry it over and use when you return x
@Lauren my work doesn’t allow you to carry annual leave over especially if it was to be a whole year 😅😩
@Jade I’m just confused because one director says one thing and then the other says another thing about the whole situation and my supervisor says they do y usually allow 3 weeks of annual leave at once. I’m just going to put my dates in and worry about it later 🤣🤦🏼♀️
You need to ask to see your companies maternity policy. There will be one and in there it will explain your rights
@Dominika I’ve used holidays beforehand and then 2 days a week for 10 weeks when im back in jan 26. If they don’t let you take them before mat leave could you bring mat leave forward and add the holidays to the end? By law they have to allow you to carry hols over, I’m sure it’s about 5 weeks. Have you not got your maternity policy? Xx
Usually you will accrue annual leave whilst on maternity (if your work maternity policy allows this, have a read to double check). Mine has it so that if I want to use annual leave before I return to work, it ends my mat leave earlier. This allows me to get paid using annual leave, as the last few weeks of Mat leave are unpaid.
I’ve been told at my work that I’ll still be accruing my annual leave whilst on maternity! So I’m due on the 12th April, that’s when my actual maternity starts, I’m using 4 weeks annual leave beforehand from ‘next years’ hols and one week ‘rolled over’ from this year as they reset in April, and then I’m using my other 3 weeks when maternity ends, so all in all i should be having 58 weeks off as I’m taking the whole 12 month maternity, plus 7 weeks annual leave! If that make any sense at all hahah! Very confusing
@Jade I haven’t seen my maternity policy. I can’t find it anywhere at my work 😅🤦🏼♀️ and my work doesn’t allow to carry over any annual leave as we are short staffed and limited for annual leave spaces 😅 I’m sure I’ll be able to use annual leave the way I want to 🤞🏼
As long as you’re not on a zero hour contract they have to let you carry up to 5.5 weeks, loads of info online around maternity law.
I’m due the 3rd April and I put on my AL from the 2nd March till 31 March. However my last working shift is the 20 February. So I’m using all 5.5 . If you don’t use all your AL before going off it rolls on to next year. But they should accommodate the al using up. I wouldn’t listen to the co worker and would go to the person who’s been doing your maternity stuff
@Dominika I think look at your maternity policy’s I’m sure that’s illegal
@Suzie no one has actually dealt with my maternity stuff 😅😩 no one told me if I needed to put a request in for annual leave or anything 🤦🏼♀️ so I jsut messaged and said these are the dates when I’m leaving 🤣
@Suzie I’ll request it on Monday. All I’ve been told is if I don’t return to work I have to pay my mat leave back. We have a little company so it’s just the owner and manager. And they both don’t know what’s happening. So I just given my dates and I’ll be going off then 🤣 as I am basically 30 weeks now 🤣😩 Yeah I’ve been getting paid for all my appointments x
@Dominika are you SMP or contractual. As smp you don’t have to pay back but contractual you do
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@Suzie I get that 90% pay for 6 weeks and then just smp. So I think the first 6 weeks you’ll have to pay back
@Dominika defo query that, they have to let you carry them over by law! Have a look on google xx
@Dominika you don’t need to repay smp! You’ll continue to get it for 39 weeks even if you decided not to go back. Enhanced/contractual you may have to repay some bit you defo need to see your policy xx
@Jade I defo need to look into the policy because my boss is under the impression you have to pay some of it back if you don’t return to work for 3 months but we don’t get no top up 😅🤦🏼♀️
@Dominika nooo don’t believe them 😂 get on google and go in Monday with the facts haha xx
@Dominika if you're getting 6 weeks at 90% and then SMP that's counted as SMP (even the first 6 weeks) and you don't have to pay any of it back. In fact you could quit now and they'd still have to pay you. If they pay you above that they might have a clause that you have to work for 3 months after mat leave or pay it back, but it would need to be in writing in your contract or maternity policy for them to enforce it. They are also not legally allowed to deny your annual leave. If you can't take it before your mat leave they HAVE to let you carry 5.5 weeks over to next year to use ON TOP of next year's. It sounds like if they are a very small company they might not have a HR dept that knows all the legal rights around maternity (that is the case at my company too), so you might have to read up and make sure they're giving you what you should get
I’m using 3 ish weeks annual leave from the 24th march then my actual mat leave starts the 17th April on my due date. I knew when I wanted to come back but HR wouldn’t accept it so soon as said they’ll get in touch closer to when I’m coming back. Is it the annual leave side of things they’re possibly not going to accept?