Maternity pay

razzawoman

Advice pleease

So, I have been on maternity leave from my job as a teacher since January, for my daughter I had on 10th February. I intended to go back part time, when I requested flexible hours they told me there was no chance at all for anything other than full time and couldn’t confirm what my role would be when I did return (I had a new headteacher start at my school whilst I was off and I very much got the impression she wanted me to leave). So, I handed my notice in after my 39 weeks maternity and they accepted this. I have just received an invoice for £3500 to pay back my OMP, would I have a leg to stand on disputing this since they denied flexible working requests? 

Thanks for reading! 

kaMelo

I don't understand why there is any doubt over your role as it's protected and you should be able to return to your previous position. If there is any proposed restructuring of roles then with being on maternity leave, you have priority status over everyone else.

You can ask for flexible working and your employer has to genuinely consider that, they can't just dismiss it out of hand. If they can prove a genuine business case that flexible working is not practical or causes a genuine problem for them then they can refuse. What reasons did they give for refusing your request? If you're a member of a union they may be able to offer some help here too.

Ultimately though, if you don't return to work after maternity leave then the employer is perfectly within their rights to ask you to repay any enhanced maternity pay over and above the statutory minimum.

chrisbur

I assume by OMP you mean a payment that was in addition to the statutory maternity pay that was due.
Whether this is repayable or not will depend on the conditions your employer has given to you for paying it.  Cannot say without knowing what those conditions were.
Might be worth speaking to ACAS about this.  

From https://workingfamilies.org.uk/articles/your-rights-at-the-end-of-maternity-leave-returning-to-work-or-choosing-to-resign/
"If it is not reasonably practicable for you to return to the same job, your employer must offer you a suitable alternative job for your experience and skillset and on terms and conditions that are no less favourable."

If it is repayable make sure that the figure is correct and that you are only repaying the net figure after accounting for any tax/NI etc. Request details of the calculations so that you can check them and ask them to confirm that these new pay details have been advised to HMRC.