Maternity
Maternity rights, a bit like parental leave and pay, generally only interest the young and employers but at the risk of boring those of us beyond child bearing age, I will try and set out an incredibly complicated set of rights as clearly as I can.
Before I do, a bit of free advice for employers. If you are contemplating taking disciplinary action against or raising work performance issues with a pregnant employee; don’t unless you are really clear why you are doing so and have taken good advice, or you have deep pockets. For employment law purposes my normal expression is “pregnant employees are bomb proof”.
A woman starts work for her employer on a full or part time basis. She is pregnant. She is entitled to 26 weeks’ maternity leave, as long as she provides her employer with certain information before the end of the fifteenth week before the baby is due.
Another woman starts work for her employer but on this occasion she completes 26 weeks’ service before the fourteenth week before her baby is due. This woman is entitled to one year of maternity leave.
The first woman benefits from all of her normal terms and conditions of employment (except pay - more later) during her maternity leave. For example she continues to accrue holiday entitlement. The second woman, if she takes in excess of 26 weeks’ leave, only benefits from limited rights under her contract of employment.
Maternity leave can start no earlier than the eleventh week before the baby is due. However, if the woman is absent from work for a pregnancy related illness in the 4 weeks before the baby is due, her maternity leave starts automatically.
The woman who has completed 26 weeks’ continuous service by 15 weeks before the baby is due, is entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP). SMP is 90% of the woman’s normal weekly pay for the first 6 weeks and then £102.80 per week (£106.00 as of April 2005) for the remaining 20 weeks, or her normal weekly pay if it is less. After 26 weeks any further leave is unpaid.
Employers must notify each woman of the date their leave will come to an end. If either woman wishes to return to work early they must give 28 days notice to their employer.
The first woman is entitled to return to her same job. The second woman, if she has in excess of 26 weeks’ leave, is only entitled to return to a suitable alternative role if her employer can show a reason why it was impractical for her to return to her original job.
As I said maternity rights are very complicated and I have only summarised the position here. The best advice for employers is that if you have a pregnant employee and you are unsure how to proceed, take some advice.
Published 27/09/2006.
