Maternity leave quick question!

LessMass

Hi All,

Sorry if this has been done loads of times before but when I did a search I didn't find what I was looking for.
I have a quick question about maternity leave. My sister is off on maternity leave on Sept 27th and has calculated she'll be back to work after her 26 weeks on Mar 28th 2011, now, she'll also obviously be entiltled to her bank holidays and Christmas leave period etc but she thinks she can only add them to next year's annual leave and has to return to work before she can take any holidays if you know what I mean, whereas, I think perhaps she can she take them to extend her maternity leave even if it's only for an extra week or ten days without first having to return to work but I've more sense than to argue with a pregnant sister so I'm letting boards answer my question for me

many thanks oh wise ones

hiltonhater

she can do whatever she wishes - once her boss agrees!! she doesnt have to make her mind up just yet either as you only have to notify your company of your decison 4 weeks before you are due to go back. ultimately though its up to her company.

alibride

id say it depends on the company she d have to ask her HR dept.
the way im doing it is 26wks mat leave
12 wks unpaid
7 bank hols during that period
18 days annual leave (some carried over from 2010)

hiltonhater

i work partime and between bank hols, hols accumulated for this year and also some that i didnt take for last year they owe me 25 days. i cant afford to take unpaid leave so i am proposing to them at my maternity meeting next month, that i go back and do 2 days for 6 months but get paid for the 3 days. fingers crossed that this works! they other alternative would be if they just pay me the 25 days in full but i cant see them doing that and my temp doesnt want to stay so i cant add the days onto my actual 26 weeks leave

crazy cat lady

I used up my leave from 2009 before going on mat leave as the baba was due in December anyway and all annual leave has to be taken before the end of the year usually, obviously it would've been different if babs was due at another time or whatever.

Anyway, I'm taking 14 weeks unpaid on top of my 26 weeks, then 4 weeks annual leave without having to return to work first. I will stall have 2 and a half weeks left to take in annual leave/public hilidays when I do return.

I'd say that each company sets its own rules for maternity leave/holidays/parental leave etc... Your sister should consult her employee manual to see what she can do or speak to someone in her HR department

LessMass

Thanks everyone, I think my sis just panicked a bit...I've passed on all your positive comments and she's much more relaxed about it now. She didn't realise she doesn't have to tell them when exactly she's coming back until four weeks beforehand and she's not very assertive in work so she wouldn't have actually approached anyone in her office to talk about it to and as it's a small family run business she works in (not our family obviously! :rolleyes: ) they don't have a HR dept, anyway!
Thanks once again,
LM