Legalities of maternity leave?

Amberdarcy

Morning all

i'm not sure if this is the right place to post this but I'm hoping someone can help. I am currently on maternity leave until October this year, I've taken the full 12 months off. My husband has been offered a new job which will mean I have to hand my notice in. However, our mortgage will be based on my earnings at my current job and we can't afford to move unless we do this (although husbands new salary will cover this amount when we move) so at the moment I can't really hand my notice in.

As far as I knew if you are on maternity leave, you only have to give the same notice as you normally would, so I'm on a months notice, hence I'd have to hand my resignation letter in in September. I got an email from work a couple of weeks ago however, asking if I would mind emailing my with what your preferences are likely to be and that he was requesting this because he has to start discussions shortly with the employee who is providing part of the maternity cover for my post and that recent employment law regulations mean that fixed term contract staff now have to be given formal notice of the end of their contract. I have informed him of the situation with my husbands job but wondered if I can hold off handing in my notice for as long as possible. I wish I hadn't told him, but other work friends knew and it seemed only a matter of time before he found out!

Any comments or suggestions gratefully received!!

amandada

EEk! a difficult one!
However, I'd hold off formally handing in my notice for as long as possible, because whilst you're on unpaid leave, you'll still be accruing holidays etc.
You can't be forced to hand in notice "early", and (this bit will be worth double checking as a lot has changed since I had maternity leave), but it used to be that you only had to give 21 days written notice of your intention to return.
It obviously depends what kind of boss you have, but you'd be wise to keep all options open for yourself, and not be "guilted" into doing anything any earlier than you would have had you not intended leaving.
If you're relying on your current salary for your mortgage, I'd certainly make sure I had the mortgage offer in place, complete with salary references, before I did anything about giving notice.

Disclaimer-I was treated very shabbily by my employer whilst on maternity leave, so I may be slightly cynical and determined to think of number 1!:rotfl:

floss2

Try posting on the Employment board, they may have a bit more info there.

roxalana

I believe you have to give 8 weeks notice of when you are intending to return from maternity leave. If you intend to leave you have to give the normal period of notice in your contract. so either you will have to decide 2 months in advance or say you will return then hand in your notice...

Also, depending on what your maternity leave package was you may have to pay back some of the money you have received. In the companies I've worked for you get a number of weeks of half pay which you have to pay back if you don't return and continue working for the company for a certain period of time.