Annual Leave and Maternity Leave

Skuxx

Hi Everyone,

My wife is currently on maternity leave. She went on her 26 weeks paid maternity in March and is now on unpaid. She has agreed with her employer to return to work in January.

She didn't take any annual leave in the months this year prior to starting maternity leave, and as such has her 20 days plus bank holidays owed to her.
She asked her employer if she could carry these days and take them next year (at least some days if all isn't an option) , but she was told no, she would be paid for them at the end of the year.

I understand you cannot be paid off for annual leave, under normal circumstances at least. I also understand a lot of companies have a policy that you cannot carry annual leave.
The two things seem to clash here in this instance.


I have searched a bit on Google but I cannot find anything regarding this situation.

Has anyone experienced this, it must be quiet common?
Any advice would be great.

Diziet

Why not take some holidays instead of unpaid leave?

The employer is not supposed to buy leave off.

ELM327

You cannot be paid for accrued PTO you must take it in the year that it is earned/accrued

What you (she) should have done was take the PTO before the unpaid mat leave.

171170

Why not ask the experts?

https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/what_you_should_know/leave/annual-leave/

Information & Customer Service

Lo-call : 1890 80 80 90

T: 059 9178990

(09.30 – 17.00)

ibarelycare

ELM327 wrote: »

You cannot be paid for accrued PTO you must take it in the year that it is earned/accrued

What you (she) should have done was take the PTO before the unpaid mat leave.

16 weeks unpaid leave must start immediately after the statutory leave, you can't take annual leave in between.

ELM327

ibarelycare wrote: »

16 weeks unpaid leave must start immediately after the statutory leave, you can't take annual leave in between.

Ah. I didnt know that... another reason to ask the experts in the post above

Riskymove

Do I lose annual leave?
No. Your annual leave continues to build up as normal while you’re
on both the standard maternity leave and the additional unpaid
maternity leave.

Do I lose public holidays?
No. If you are on maternity leave and additional unpaid maternity
leave you are entitled to be credited for any public holiday that occurs
during your leave.

You must be given either an extra day’s pay or a set paid day off
within a month, or an extra day’s annual leave for every public holiday
that occurred during your leave. This also applies if your employer
continues to give you full pay during your leave.

see here
https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/publications_forms/guide_to_maternity_protection_acts.pdf



It doesn't specifically answer your question but I'd be surprised if employers could just void annual leave of a woman on maternity

splinter65

ELM327 wrote: »

You cannot be paid for accrued PTO you must take it in the year that it is earned/accrued

What you (she) should have done was take the PTO before the unpaid mat leave.

That’s not allowed.

hickory

I did what your wife wants to do as in I carried some of the leave rather than get paid for it. I think I got paid for 75% and carried the rest. I think it depends on how much your wife wants to carry alot of employers dont want someone to have 40 days holidays. At first Hr didnt want to let me but I argued given maternity leave was protected leave I couldnt be forced to take them. They agreed but then I had to ensure they didnt expire them so our work place let's u carry 5 but they expire at 31st of March so again I had to ensure they didnt apply that rule in this case. I eventually got there with them but not sure if they had to let me or I just argued well. It definitely seemed like no one had requested this before