Unintended consequence of maternity leave

[Dallas]

I wouldnt hire me, thats why I contract.

Friend of mine moved into a promoted role 2 months pregnant, so at 3 months she declared it and they had to accommodate it, and now she is wondering why her team dont like her, 1 year maternity and back on a 4 day week.

She should have stayed in old role, but doesnt like hearing that

[vetran]

damned if you do damned if you don't.

[BrilloPad]

damned if you do damned if you don't.

You're married. You should be used to it.

[CloudWalker]

Having a baby is very stressful for anyone, and giving them job security I one less thing to worry about.

[Mich the Tester]

I wouldnt hire me, thats why I contract.

WSS

[vetran]

Having a baby is very stressful for anyone, and giving them job security I one less thing to worry about.

Having someone off on maternity doesn't exactly help the business affected.

the problem is that the thinking around maternity is that the business pays. Small businesses struggle.

I would make access to rights to return to the same job level and enhanced maternity pay only kick in if the lady has more than one year of service before pregnancy. That way someone who conceals pregnancy in the hiring process will get most of the other benefits but you can replace her with someone else and provide an alternate job on the same salary when she returns.

[mudskipper]

Having someone off on maternity doesn't exactly help the business affected.

the problem is that the thinking around maternity is that the business pays. Small businesses struggle.

I would make access to rights to return to the same job level and enhanced maternity pay only kick in if the lady has more than one year of service before pregnancy. That way someone who conceals pregnancy in the hiring process will get most of the other benefits but you can replace her with someone else and provide an alternate job on the same salary when she returns.

Anyone know what the rules are?


When I went on ML many years ago, you had to be there two years to get maternity benefits, and they were pretty stingy - something like 6 weeks at 90% pay, then 12 weeks at 'dole money' rates. Any additional time off was unpaid. Being local council, I got 12 weeks at half pay instead of the minimum, but had to be repaid if I didn't return to my job for 6 months.

[vetran]

https://www.gov.uk/employee-rights-when-on-leave

https://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/overview

[mudskipper]

https://www.gov.uk/employee-rights-when-on-leave

https://www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/overview

Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid for up to 39 weeks. You get:

90% of your average weekly earnings (before tax) for the first 6 weeks
£138.18 or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for the next 33 weeks

So the main change is that the low rate is for 33 weeks rather than 12.

Also, seems you're allowed longer off - used to be up to 29 weeks after the baby was born.

[cailin maith]

Anyone know what the rules are?


When I went on ML many years ago, you had to be there two years to get maternity benefits, and they were pretty stingy - something like 6 weeks at 90% pay, then 12 weeks at 'dole money' rates. Any additional time off was unpaid. Being local council, I got 12 weeks at half pay instead of the minimum, but had to be repaid if I didn't return to my job for 6 months.

It varies from business to business but where I am, I was really lucky to get 4 months full pay (enhanced Mat Benefit) paid by my employer, followed by the 6 weeks at 90% then the basic SMP for the remainder of the 12 month entitlement. I took 10 months off.

One of my colleagues was preggers at the same time as me but worked for a different arm and she just got the basic 6 weeks at 90% followed by SMP and she'd been working for them the same length of time as me, we were just on different T&C's. The variation even within the same group is massive let alone from business to business.

The SMP is paid over by the employer but deducted from the monthly tax bill so the employer doesn't actually pay it over, just acts as a conduit as it were.