Pregnancy and sick leave

Prospector1989

Hi, feel free to move this to the Pregnant forum but I think it's best placed here.

My partner is a primary school teacher, we're expecting in the new and the plan is for her to finish up for maternity leave at the end of December.

She has been quite sick, on and off for the duration of the pregnancy. She returned to work when the schools re-opened 3 weeks ago.

Aside from the worry of her potentially catching Covid19 and the impact this could have on her and the baby, she's generally struggling with low energy and feeling quite unwell. Her GP said he would sign her off sick if necessary.

So this is where we're looking for help, from what we've read online, she can take 92 days sick leave in a 12 month period, ans 183 days in a rolling 4 year period without her pay being reduced. She's never out sick so currently would have the majority of that still available to her.

We've also been reading about PRSL (pregnancy related sick leave), and how that doesn't count towards the above days? Would she still receive her full pay?

It may come down to her just finishing up but trying to figure out where we stand so we can plan ahead. She's going to ring the INTO later to chat to them about it.

Cheers!

rainbowtrout

I presume she's going around the end of December to bring her to the end of June on maternity leave. To reduce the amount of sick leave she uses, she could bring forward her maternity leave to the middle of December by two weeks and then use the two weeks paid parental leave which was introduced last year at the end of June. It essentially amounts to 28 weeks of paid leave. That would reduce the sick leave used on this side of December.

rainbowtrout

When she is on sick leave she will receive full pay until she has exhausted all of the sick leave available to her on full pay (the 92 days)

Prospector1989

Thanks rainbowtrout. Will consider the above alright. If she has to go onto half pay for safety reasons etc so be.

Cheers

annoyedgal

Make sure it's recorded as pregnancy related sick leave. If she uses her full allowance of days over 4 years she will get the time taken for pregnancy related added on at half pay.
Would highly recommend contacting union who are best placed to give advice on best time to take mat leave to maximise benefit to mum and baby and to explain sick leave in detail.

Prospector1989

annoyedgal wrote: »

Make sure it's recorded as pregnancy related sick leave. If she uses her full allowance of days over 4 years she will get the time taken for pregnancy related added on at half pay.
Would highly recommend contacting union who are best placed to give advice on best time to take mat leave to maximise benefit to mum and baby and to explain sick leave in detail.

Thanks annoyedgal. She has plans to contact the union this week.

Prospector1989

Quick follow up, we're probably going to go the parents leave route so we can reduce the sick leave on this side. (if this is increased to 5 weeks then even better).

Assuming my wife is on maternity from mid December, there will obviously be 7/8 bank holidays. Is she entitled to these at the end of the maternity leave?

Regardless anyway, we're much more relaxed having a plan in place.
Cheers for the advice.

rainbowtrout

Prospector1989 wrote: »

Quick follow up, we're probably going to go the parents leave route so we can reduce the sick leave on this side. (if this is increased to 5 weeks then even better).

Assuming my wife is on maternity from mid December, there will obviously be 7/8 bank holidays. Is she entitled to these at the end of the maternity leave?

Regardless anyway, we're much more relaxed having a plan in place.
Cheers for the advice.

I vaguely remember a couple of friends on staff saying that they were told to take their bank holidays during the midterm break :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

It used to be the case that the bank holidays that overlapped with maternity leave were added on as holiday leave at the end of the maternity period, but I don't think that is the case anymore since cuts were made a few years back. She is probably better off giving her union a call just to check

Millem

Prospector1989 wrote: »

Quick follow up, we're probably going to go the parents leave route so we can reduce the sick leave on this side. (if this is increased to 5 weeks then even better).

Assuming my wife is on maternity from mid December, there will obviously be 7/8 bank holidays. Is she entitled to these at the end of the maternity leave?

Regardless anyway, we're much more relaxed having a plan in place.
Cheers for the advice.

https://www.into.ie/app/uploads/2019/07/20.06.19-2_PREGNANCY-FLYER.pdf

In reality no we don’t get to add on any bank holidays or school closures.

Parent’s benefit is not topped up it’s €245 per week.

I would definitely try and reduce the sick leave taken. They changed the rules in 2014. Pregnancy sick leave was not counted but now it is. I actually took out income protection through Cornmarket after my first pregnancy.

Weekends, midterms etc are counted in your sick leave days

mirrorwall14

Millem wrote: »

https://www.into.ie/app/uploads/2019/07/20.06.19-2_PREGNANCY-FLYER.pdf

In reality no we don’t get to add on any bank holidays or school closures.

Parent’s benefit is not topped up it’s €245 per week.

I would definitely try and reduce the sick leave taken. They changed the rules in 2014. Pregnancy sick leave was not counted but now it is. I actually took out income protection through Cornmarket after my first pregnancy.

Weekends, midterms etc are counted in your sick leave days

Pregnancy sick leave is still treated differently just not as ‘not counted’. If you exhaust your sick leave completely then they will give you back the pregnancy leave time at half pay. So say you spend three months on pregnancy sick leave in one year and the following year you need three months. You are still fine. But the third year you need another two months.... technically you have run out of paid leave but they will give you back three months half paid leave because of the pregnancy leave.

Millem

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Pregnancy sick leave is still treated differently just not as ‘not counted’. If you exhaust your sick leave completely then they will give you back the pregnancy leave time at half pay. So say you spend three months on pregnancy sick leave in one year and the following year you need three months. You are still fine. But the third year you need another two months.... technically you have run out of paid leave but they will give you back three months half paid leave because of the pregnancy leave.

Yes it’s still very unfair though.

mirrorwall14

Millem wrote: »

Yes it’s still very unfair though.

Agreed!

Prospector1989

Thanks for all the advice guys.

She's tried calling the union can't get hold of anyone. Sent an email anyway

Millem wrote: »

I would definitely try and reduce the sick leave taken. They changed the rules in 2014. Pregnancy sick leave was not counted but now it is. I actually took out income protection through Cornmarket after my first pregnancy.

I believe she actually has income protection with Cornmarket. Not sure what it covers but I'll tell her to look into it.

Millem

Prospector1989 wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice guys.

She's tried calling the union can't get hold of anyone. Sent an email anyway



I believe she actually has income protection with Cornmarket. Not sure what it covers but I'll tell her to look into it.

Ah sure if she has income protection work away taking the sick leave.

Prospector1989

Millem wrote: »

Ah sure if she has income protection work away taking the sick leave.

Not sure how this never dawned on either of us.