Confusing pay question

magickid

I was wondering if anyone could help me. I am on maternity leave, and my pay ends on 26 September 2012. Before maternity leave I was full time and entitled to 27 days holiday plus bank holidays. My salary was £35000.

I am going back 3 days a week at a pro rata rate of £21000.

Whilst on maternity leave I have accrued 25 days holiday (inc bank holiday) and the way I see it I have 2 options.

Option A) End my maternity leave on 25 September and take 25 days holiday (for which I will be paid), returning to work on 31 October.

Option Take maternity until 31 October and be paid out for the accrued holiday (with possibly an additional 2 days leave accrued for October) and return to work on 31 October.

Now, if I were to go with Option A then I would effectively no longer be on maternity from 25 September - I would be back in employment, but just on holiday. My question is, in this instance should I expect to be paid a salary for October? The holiday I will have accrued is up until 25 September so effectively from what I can gather, I should be paid the 25 days holiday AND the salary for the month of October.

If I went for option B, I wouldn't be effectively back at work in October so not entitled to the salary as I'd be on the unpaid part of maternity but I would be paid for the holiday I have accrued.

Does anyone know the answer to this? I am trying to work out which makes better financial sense (for me!). Have I got something wrong. I am find it very confusing!

Appreciate any help.

LittleMrsThrifty

magickid wrote: »

I was wondering if anyone could help me. I am on maternity leave, and my pay ends on 26 September 2012. Before maternity leave I was full time and entitled to 27 days holiday plus bank holidays. My salary was £35000.

I am going back 3 days a week at a pro rata rate of £21000.

Whilst on maternity leave I have accrued 25 days holiday (inc bank holiday) and the way I see it I have 2 options.

Option A) End my maternity leave on 25 September and take 25 days holiday (for which I will be paid), returning to work on 31 October.

Option Take maternity until 31 October and be paid out for the accrued holiday (with possibly an additional 2 days leave accrued for October) and return to work on 31 October.

Now, if I were to go with Option A then I would effectively no longer be on maternity from 25 September - I would be back in employment, but just on holiday. My question is, in this instance should I expect to be paid a salary for October? The holiday I will have accrued is up until 25 September so effectively from what I can gather, I should be paid the 25 days holiday AND the salary for the month of October.

If I went for option B, I wouldn't be effectively back at work in October so not entitled to the salary as I'd be on the unpaid part of maternity but I would be paid for the holiday I have accrued.

Does anyone know the answer to this? I am trying to work out which makes better financial sense (for me!). Have I got something wrong. I am find it very confusing!

Appreciate any help.

In option A; would you actually be physically at work during October? If not then clearly you are not entitled to a salary as well as your holiday pay. When you take two weeks to go on leave you don't get paid holiday and your normal pay on top.

Essentially you decide whether you want to take the leave you have accrued or be paid for it. As you are on maternity leave and are essentially on unpaid leave then it doesn't really matter which you decide, it's more to do with when you actually want to go back to work.

magickid

LittleMrsThrifty wrote: »

In option A; would you actually be physically at work during October? If not then clearly you are not entitled to a salary as well as your holiday pay. When you take two weeks to go on leave you don't get paid holiday and your normal pay on top.

I wouldn't be physically at work in October but would be on holiday for days accrued up to that point.

See, this is where my confusion comes in and I'm probably being really dense (baby brain). The holiday is accrued from Jan - September, for which I should be paid - is that correct (whether I take it or not?) so essentially in October I'm on holiday that I've accrued up until that point so I should be paid for the holiday and be paid for October?

For example, say I wasn't on maternity leave and I were to leave the company at the end of October for a new job, but that entire year had only taken 1 days holiday, I would expect my October pay plus they would pay me for any holiday I hadn't taken.

Apologies if I am being really dense, I can't get my head round it!

ktothema

With option A, whilst you are off maternity you will be on holiday so no double pay, just holiday pay.

If your company agree to option B, then that's great but they don't have to. They can make you take your holiday as soon as your maternity is up. This is generally what happens when most mums return from maternity.

You may wish to also bear in mind that most companies want a lengthy notice period if changing the end date of your maternity (I know 8 weeks is pretty common) so you may not be able to now change your declared return date to 25th September.

getmore4less

magickid wrote: »

Whilst on maternity leave I have accrued 25 days holiday (inc bank holiday) and the way I see it I have 2 options.
.

The company decided on holidays not you.

They should not buy out statutory holidays.

magickid

Thanks all. I think I finally understand it after talking to my HR dept. They have agreed to option B and my work are pretty flexible about when I go back so still got a few months left with my little man!

magickid

getmore4less wrote: »

The company decided on holidays not you.

They should not buy out statutory holidays.

They told me I had accrued 25 days holiday.

skintandscared_2

Our company do not offer pay instead of the holiday - the holiday must be taken. Unless the person decides not to return to work, in which case the holiday is paid (deducting any enhanced maternity payments). Does your company definitely offer the choice of taking the holiday or being paid instead?

getmore4less

Due to the change in hours it will be best to take the holiday before the change otherwise they could have you off for a long time at the reduced rate using up the holidays.

Also less chance of getting it wrong since there will be a clear demarkation between the 2 rates of work and holiday accrual.

if on a jan-dec it might be worht keeping an extra couple of days back since the accrual will be small.

Technicaly you don't acrue holidays on holiday but most places don't bother with that and prorata on calendar.

magickid

skintandscared wrote: »

Our company do not offer pay instead of the holiday - the holiday must be taken. Unless the person decides not to return to work, in which case the holiday is paid (deducting any enhanced maternity payments). Does your company definitely offer the choice of taking the holiday or being paid instead?

Yes, I have spoken to HR today and they offered me the two options before I posted on here. I was just confused over option A and didn't want to keep asking them so thought I'd ask the clever bods on here

skintandscared_2

So if your maternity pay ends on 26 September, but you extend your maternity to 31 October, you are effectively using up the 25 days holiday then, aren't you?