Annual Leave before Maternity Leave?

cazziej

Hello, hoping somebody can answer this query for my daughter for me please. (I have also put this query in another section)

She is currently 24 weeks pregnant (25 on Friday) and needs to sort out her maternity leave/pay before then.

She started working there on 21.07.08 and so has been employed for 28 weeks by this Friday.

Her holiday year runs from January to December and she is entitled to 5 weeks holiday in a 12 month period.

Her EDD is 15.05.09 and it was her intention to start her maternity leave at 33 weeks, i.e around 27th of March 2009. She wanted to take her annual leave before this (4 weeks and 4 days as she has already taken 1 day this year), making her actual leaving date 23rd February 2009.

She saw her manager today, who told her that under no circumstances can she not be in work in March as it would leave them short staffed!! I know myself 100% that if she wanted to, she could start her maternity leave at 29 weeks, i.e. 27th February 2009, so in theory there is NO way the manager can MAKE her work in March!! She also told her that she cannot take her AL prior to her maternity leave as she will not have accrued it, nor can she be paid for it, but she MIGHT be able to roll it over for the next year.

Now, I have a few problems with this, the main one being what if she decides that she is NOT going back to work next year? Would they be obliged to pay her for the holidays? She WILL accrue the holidays as she will be on maternity leave, so I don't understand her reasoning.

A quick scan of the Maternity Leave Policy reveals this:

Holidays: "Accrue contractual holiday entitlement for whole leave as if at work. Employees can take any holiday that may be accrued up in the first six months of their maternity leave prior to starting their maternity leave. Any holiday accrued after the initial six months of maternity leave should be taken when the employee returns to work. If the accrued holiday is from the previous years entitlement, then the employee should take the holiday within 3 months of returning to work."

From this statement does it look like she CAN take ALL her leave prior to starting her maternity leave or not - I am a bit confused , or are they saying she CAN take only 1/2 her annual leave, and then the other half when she returns? But what if she doesn't return? I think she wants to wait and see when she has the baby :j if she is going back or not.

Also, will she be entitled to paid Bank Holidays while on maternity leave (probably not I would think).

Wow, this was a bit longer than I planned!!

Hope somebody can help.

Best wishes

Carol

xmaslolly76

I believe and dont quote me on this that yes she is entitled to take holiday before she goes on maternity leave however most companys work on a first come first served basis with holiday entitlement so if too many staff are off at one time they can reasonably say no to a holiday request, also alot of companys put a restirction on how much holiday you can have in one go. However personally i do think telling her she cannot take any time off at all in March is not very reasonable at all. Has she approached the HR manager?

silvercar

If she starts ML on 27th March, then 6 months later is 27th September. So she would be entitled to about 3 weeks and 3 days AL by the end of the first 6 months of ML. This is the amount she should take before going on ML.

But, when to take AL is always subject to approval, you can't normally dictate when to take your leave, so it would need the managers agreement.

She needs a discussion with her manager. If she politely says that she wants to take AL to start her ML early, they may agree if she also points out that she would otherwise start ML earlier.

If the manager is adamant that she can't take AL then, she could start ML at the end of Feb, but this would reduce the AL to about 3 weeks 1 day.

I would guess that the rules are there so that non-returners haven't taken AL to which they are not entitled.

My_Fathers_Daughter

My baby brain (due in 5 weeks) means that I can only focus on 1 bit of your post at a time I am afraid.

Your daughters employer is within their rights to say that she cannot take holiday before she has accrued it (so therefore she can only use what she had already 'earned' in the run up to her maternity leave) UNLESS the company policy says differently. (however, most employers are a bit more leanient than that!)

Will read a bit more now and see if I can add to the above.



Edit:

This bit:
Holidays: "Accrue contractual holiday entitlement for whole leave as if at work. Employees can take any holiday that may be accrued up in the first six months of their maternity leave prior to starting their maternity leave. Any holiday accrued after the initial six months of maternity leave should be taken when the employee returns to work. If the accrued holiday is from the previous years entitlement, then the employee should take the holiday within 3 months of returning to work."

Suggests that she can take 6 months worth of leave (ie 12.5 days) before she goes on ML.

The red bit:
Seems to suggest that she can only take 6 months of leave prior to mat leave - assume that would be PLUS what she has accrued in Jan & Feb (say 2 days?)

SO I think she can take 14.5 days prior to her ML starting, the rest of her days (10.5) should be taken when she returns.


As an aside - some companies can make you pay back any Maternity Pay (over and above statutory) if you choose not to go back - should say in the company policy.

Rachel83

5 weeks is probably too much to ask for in one go, has she tried asking for 2 weeks off then 2 weeks back and then 2 weeks off etc? That would be more workable for the company im sure than trying to take 5 weeks in one go.

The way my companys doing my holiday is i have 2 weeks left to take before i finish in feb then apparently while im off i still accrue holiday so i have 6 weeks when i go back, so im using that as kinda one week back one week off until thats used up. Best bet is for her to sit down with her manager i guess she'd have a Health and saftey assesment fairly frequently now as she's quite pregnant now.

MrsTinks

It's the same where I am - I wanted to take it ALL at the end of my maternity leave However they prefer you to take 6 months before your maternity leave and then the rest after/at the end of your maternity leave - even if it means carrying it over to next year or if you decide not to come back they you can either take it at the end or have it paid.
I think asking for 5 weeks holiday in one hit IS a bit much... and in her employers defence - they can't get someone in to cover her holiday as easily as they can get authorisation for maternity leave cover... And ultimately if someone else has already booked annual leave then first come first serve I'm afraid...

MrsTinks

Oh and yes she should accrue days for the BHs too I think...