You love your job, but you also want to start a family. You work through the first stages of your pregnancy and have communicated to your employer that you will return after your maternity leave.
But then your baby arrives and your whole world is tipped upside down, both physically and emotionally, and suddenly everything revolves around this new addition to the family.
It’s important for new mothers to know their rights and dispel any guilt about changing their mind about going back to work. After all, as any mother will tell you, you will never be prepared for how you will feel when the little one arrives.
Last week, Natasha Kaplinsky was blamed in the press for making it harder for working women by handing in her notice after her maternity leave. Was this fair? No. It would be naive of both employee and employer to not realise that in some cases, there will be a strong possibility that new mothers might not want to go back to work, no matter how convinced they were before.
Of course, some women will want to return to work as soon as two weeks after the baby is born, but what are the options if not?
Most employees (other than the self-employed, those in the armed forces and police officers) are entitled to take up to 52 weeks’ maternity leave, regardless of how long they have been employed.
They can start this leave up to 11 weeks before the baby is due. For the first six weeks after the baby is born, employees are entitled to 90 per cent of their salary and then either Statutory Maternity Pay (currently £123.06 per week) or 90 per of their earnings if this is lower for the next 33 weeks.
If you decide you want to become a stay-at-home mum then this is of course an option. However, you will be required to work the notice period outlined in your contract.
If you are on maternity leave throughout your notice period then you will not be required to attend work. Handing in your notice while off with your baby will not affect your statutory maternity pay entitlement, however, it may affect any contractual payments that your employer makes over and above the minimum entitlement.
You should therefore carefully read your contract in relation to any enhanced payments. In addition you accrue your contractual holiday entitlement during your maternity leave.
It is often therefore best to hand in your notice at the latest possible time in order to have accrued all your holidays. You will then be paid in lieu of your accrued, but untaken, holidays on termination of your employment.
If returning to work part-time is something you want to do, you must bear in mind that you have no automatic entitlement to expect this from your employer. You are, however, able to request this option, which must be considered formally by your employer and could be considered as sex discrimination if it is not.
By Sarah Calderwood, employment law specialist at law firm Slater Heelis, www.slaterheelis.co.uk
