Gone are the days when finding out you are pregnant was received with genuine well wishes from work colleagues and the like. These days, how many of us women feel guilty about fulfilling a personal objective (becoming a mum), without the added weight that deep down, your employer isn’t all that happy for you, or putting your needs first. They’re thinking : “great, now I’ve got x months to recruit maternity cover, sort out her maternity pay, her health and safety assessments…oh and what if she wants to come back part-time, or not at all…?”
The prospect of earning just a percentage of your usual income, and what with an extra mouth to feed, and cloth, and provide a roof over, can be a daunting one, especially with the economy being in the state that it’s in.
Once you’re over the morning sickness and accepted the strange food cravings and stretch marks, you’ll probably have started doing your sums to see how you’ll survive the financial strain of your maternity leave.
So, being pregnant at work can be a very calculating time. On the one hand you don’t want to seem like you’re squeezing every last penny out of your employer, or shout out loud that, despite this, you have no intention of coming back to work – for them, anyway – or that you intend to cut your hours by half if you have no choice but to return. And what if this job you’ve got will start in a month, because you’re actually at the interview and don’t intend to blow your chances of getting the job by letting on that you’re pregnant?
Here are some questions to help you may not want to ask your employer:
If I go for a job interview, do I have to tell them that I’m pregnant?
In a word – no. Being pregnant has nothing to do with whether you are the right person for the job. It is a breach of the sex discrimination laws for a potential employer to ask you questions about pregnancy, or even future plans to have children, at an interview.
Obviously, there is only so long you can hide your pregnancy, and even if you are one of the lucky women who can hide it until their waters’ break, legally you have until the end of the 15th week before your baby is due to tell your employer.
It’s up to you whether you wait until the last minute to tell all, but be aware that until your employer has written notification of your pregnancy from you, they do not have to perform a health and safety assessment, and you will not get paid time off for antenatal care.
If you start a new job after the 15th week before the baby is due, however, you will need to tell your employer as soon as you start.
Do I have to repay my maternity pay if I don’t go back to work?
Some employers offer contractual maternity pay that can be better than Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and if you decide not to return to work after you have had your baby, you only have to repay it if it was agreed in advance, or if it is specified in their maternity policy/your contract of employment.
But it’s not all doom and gloom – the only part you have to pay back is the ‘extra’ that they give you – not the SMP part of it.
Can I work flexible hours when I return from maternity leave?
If you have a child who under the age of six, or a disabled child less than 18 years of age, you have the right to apply to work flexibly. This does not mean that your employer has to grant you this request, but they do have to look at the request, and they can only decline the request under certain conditions – like if you working flexibly would have a negative impact on the company.
You should check your contract or your staff handbook, talk to your trade union representatives and (where appropriate) your HR department to ensure that you get access to all that your employer offers in this area.
My maternity leave is about to finish and I am pregnant again. What are my rights?
Your maternity leave does not break your continuity of employment, so your right to maternity leave for this pregnancy will be based on your total service with this employer. You might also qualify for SMP, as long as you meet the normal conditions.
You must give the same notice as you did the first time you went on leave.
It is important that you physically go back into work for a period – even just one day – in order to maintain all of your rights. You will, however, have the same rights as you would have received on returning from Additional Maternity Leave i.e. the right to return to the same job, or if that is not reasonably practicable, a suitable alternative job on similar terms and conditions.
You should also note that SMP is calculated on average earnings of 8 weeks before the 15th week before the baby is due. So, if you received SMP or Maternity Allowance for your first period of maternity leave, then your next maternity leave will be calculated using the actual amount of money you received in this time, which in tax year 2007/08 was ?117 per week.
To get around this, you may want to consider going back to work between the two leave periods, as this may increase the amount of SMP you receive, especially if you can return 8 weeks before the end of the 15th week before the next baby is due (i.e. when you are about 7 weeks pregnant).
I’ve got two part-time jobs. Do I get maternity pay for both?
If you work for two employers, you’re allowed to exercise you rights regarding maternity pay and leave with both of them, on a pro-rata basis for each job.
You’ll need to have worked for each employer for 26 weeks by the qualifying week (15th week before your baby is due), and you’ll need to inform both employers that your are pregnant by the end of the 15th week before your baby is due. In total you should receive the same amount of maternity pay as someone who works in a full time job.
If you have worked for one employer for 26 weeks by the qualifying week, but not the other, you will only be entitled to receive maternity pay for the first one.
How much can I expect in Statutory Maternity Pay?
SMP is paid at 90% of your earnings for the first 6 weeks followed by a flat rate, which is ?117 for this tax year. If you earn less than the lower earnings limit (determined by the government), you are entitled to receive 90% of this ?117 as the flat rate.
As SMP is paid for the first 39 weeks of your maternity leave, the flat rate will be payable for 33 weeks, unless your employer offers something better than this.
If there are other questions you feel we should highlight, drop us an email at editor@motherswhowork.co.uk