Maternity Leave - "Keeping in Touch" days

Bozzy20

Hi all, I would be so grateful for your urgent advice. I am emailing on behalf of my wife who is currently on maternity leave with our first daughter (born last February) and she 18 weeks pregnant again!

Background info:- My wife was asked to deliver a workshop and be a key speaker at a conference last month and she agreed even though she would still be on maternity leave. It was agreed that she would use her "keeping in touch" days for this - 5 days to prepare and 5 days at the conference.

The preparations for the workshop and speaking took more than five days, unfortunately and my wife carefully noted the extra hours she worked (research, consultations with several contacts, preparations etc). The total hours went over the 5 days and, out of concern, she emailed her head of department pointing this out and requested advice. The head of dept responded saying she would think about this and get back - at no stage did she say stop nor point out the fact that there would be no paid overtime or time off in lieu given. My wife's preparations for her speech to 200 delegates and running a workshop involved a lot of work. Unfortunately, the head of dept did not get back and my wife carried on working those extra hours (she did about 4 to 5 days on top of the 5 days preparation time).

My wife tried to raise this on a number of occasions but there was never an opportunity therefore my wife recently raised this by email. The head of department has responded this morning saying "have taken extensive advice on this and the answer is the same each time. They do not pay over time to professional grade staff, with no exceptions. I appreciate that you worked long and hard, beyond your official hours, on your plenary and workshop sessions, but would point out that so did many others, including Z and myself.

Your work was very well received, with positive comments from many people and I know that the director was very proud of the input you made to the event as a member of the 'Team', so please don't feel that your hard work was not recognised or appreciated.

I realise that this is not the answer you were hoping for, but I trust that it will not be the cause of ill feeling, as we are very much looking forward to your return."

My wife is obviously very upset by all this. She strongly felt she should be given the extra hours she put in as pay or time off in lieu.

What the head of the dept did not seem to grasp is the fact that my wife was not working "normal official hours" - she is on maternity leave and is 18 weeks pregnant again!

She was so stressed out in the preparations and felt she was neglecting our daughter throughout that time. If she was back at work then she would have not minded putting in extra hours (1 or 2 hours here and there) but was putting in 4 to 5 hours work daily throughout September in between our daughter's sleep and have had to rope in her sister to help out. Frankly I do not think my wife's employers are being very supportive or flexible.

As husband and father I am not very happy about this and am worried about the effect it is having on her - she was under a huge amount of stress and now this is an unwelcome addition to the stress she is undergoing.

My wife is meeting the head of dept on Wednesday - do you have any advice?

Very much appreciated.

Many thanks.

Boz

Lemoncurd

Sorry to hear that your wife has been under so much stress, it does sound a bit unfair
Have you checked the rules on KIT days and working during maternity leave? I think that she may have a problem with any maternity pay if she pursues payment for the extra days she worked. Hope she feels better soon.

blottedcopybook

Lemoncurd wrote: »

Sorry to hear that your wife has been under so much stress, it does sound a bit unfair
Have you checked the rules on KIT days and working during maternity leave? I think that she may have a problem with any maternity pay if she pursues payment for the extra days she worked. Hope she feels better soon.

Yes, this unfortunately because the standard rate of maternity pay is recoverable from the government so it's treated as a state benefit and there are restrictions on what you can earn. I actually thought you could only have three KIT days during your leave but it's possible that I'm wrong.

Bozzy20

Thanks. She was entitled to 10 days KIT. Surely the employer could have agreed to time off in lieu at a later date?

DaisyFlower

As long as she either gets paid for the 10 KIT days or the time off in lieu, then I would leave it at that. Time off in lieu is usually the best as that has no effect on maternity pay.

If everybody put in extra time at no pay, then all staff have been treated the same. Most contracts state that a certain amount of unpaid over time is expected.

Bozzy20

thanks sorry but I dont think I was clear in my earlier posting. My wife is being paid for the 10 days KIT for the conference preparation and attending. But she also did 4 to 5 days extra on top - should she lose that altogether or should she continue to insist that her employer gives her that time off in lieu??

ginvzt

If she gets paid one way or another for more than 10 KIT days, doesn't she is assumed to have returned to work? I am sure I read something about this somewhere...

Have a look here:
http://www.paypershop.com/news-cat/payrolltips256.html

belfastgirl23

To be honest if she likes her job and is generally happy with it I'd let this drop. They will know they owe her big time and this would be a good bargaining tactic if she needs it, for example for working from home once in a while or flexible start times etc.

I think in her shoes I'd just say that I really appreciated the email (which was a lovely email by the way and clearly acknowledged her contribution) and that I understood that they weren't in a position to recompense the time spent but that I felt the situation was a bit different for someone on maternity leave. And leave it at that for now.

But when she needs something or at her next appraisal, I'd be bringing it up big-time.

For now though she should let it go. With a baby on the way and a young child to take care of that's enough stress for anyone! If she could view the conference also as a chance to keep her reputation up within her profession and raise her own stock that might help her accept things. And i'm sure word got around that she was doing this off her own bat during maternity leave which won't do her any harm either. Particularly if she is rolling together two maternity leaves and effectively disappearing from the work place for a long time...this is a good way to maintain some level of visibility...

BTW it does sound right to me that it would be difficult to pay her anything more while on maternity leave.

themaccas

I would also let this drop, you wife is in a 'professional grade' which means these extra hours unfortunately go with the territory. I think you may find the conditions of mat leave mean that they can not pay her as she is receiving mat pay, I know at my work that is the case.

I would take comfort from the email and be grateful I worked in such a place that valued my work in such high regard.

starbump

Is your wife employed or self-employed?

I know that you get 10 KIT days if you are self-employed and that any part of a day (even an hour) counts as a full day. Any pay received for the KIT days reduces maternity allowance by the same amount. Working more than the 10 KIT days means you have returned to work.

I am unsure of the situation if you are employed. However, if it is similar then working more than the 10 KIT days may cause your wife to forfeit the rest of her maternity leave and pay.

starbump

I've just googled for the information:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/advisers/ni17a/smp/smp_16.asp

"Once you have used up your 10 KIT days and you do any further work, you will lose a week’s SMP for the week in the Maternity Pay Period in which you have done that work. If a week in your Maternity Pay Period contains only KIT days, you will be paid SMP for that week. If a week in your Maternity Pay Period contains the last KIT day and you do a further days work in the same week for the employer paying you SMP, you will lose SMP for that week."