After maternity leave

Rights on return to work

An employee who returns to work after maternity leave is entitled to return to the same job on the same terms and conditions as if she had not been absent, unless a redundancy situation has arisen.

In addition, if there is a reason other than redundancy which means that it is not reasonably practicable for the University to take her back to the same job, she is entitled to be offered suitable alternative work, if this can be identified.

Employees who have children aged under 17 (or disabled children under 18) have the right to request flexible working and the employing department has a duty to seriously consider that request. If an employee wishes to work a flexible working pattern on a temporary basis to ease her return to work, she should discuss this with her department as soon as possible.

Employees returning from maternity leave also have a separate entitlement to parental leave which is a period of unpaid leave. See also Additional Paternity Leave.

A woman who is pregnant, has recently given birth or is breast-feeding, and is unable to continue in her post on designated health and safety grounds, will be offered alternative work or, where none is available, be suspended on full pay until such times as she is able to resume her duties.

Health and safety

The University is required to protect the health and safety at work of all employees, including new and expectant mothers and mothers who are breastfeeding.

The Management of Health and Safety at work Regulations 1999 require employers to assess risks to their employees, including new and expectant mothers, and to do what is reasonably practicable to control those risks.

The University is required to carry out a specific risk assessment paying particular attention to risks that could affect the health and safety of the new or expectant mother or her child. Once the department has been informed by the employee that she is pregnant, recently given birth or is breastfeeding, the risk assessment should be carried out. For further information please contact the University Safety Office.

There is no statutory right to time off work for breastfeeding mothers.

Changing hours of work

Temporary changes: If an employee requests a temporary return to part time work at the end of maternity leave, the department should, subject to operational needs, consider allowing employees the opportunity to return to full time work on a phased basis.

If an employee would like to return to work gradually at less than her normal full-time hours, she should discuss this possibility with her department before she begins her maternity leave. This will allow departments time to arrange cover. Departments are asked to consider such requests favourably where at all possible, but any arrangement will depend on the operational needs of the department.

It is important to note that this flexibility of return does not allow an employee to choose from week to week what hours she would like to work. The intention is for employees and departments to agree a regular timetable of hours to help an employee to return to full time work as smoothly as possible. Any arrangements must be agreed with the Head of Department so that they fit into the operational requirements of the department and/or group with whom the employee works. For the period of part time work, employees will be paid at the appropriate pro rata rate. This will have implications for pensions contributions which employees may wish to discuss with the Pensions Office.

Permanent changes: Following maternity leave, an employee's legal right is to return to the job which she held prior to her maternity leave. If an employee decides that she would like to return to her job permanently on a part-time basis, she may apply to her department under the University's flexible working procedures. The department should seriously consider the possibility of a return on a different basis, which might include shorter hours working or working fewer weeks of the year, but agreement to this type of request is dependent upon the operational requirements of the department. For any period worked part-time, pay and pensions contributions will be adjusted on a pro rata basis.

Sickness during maternity leave

The university follows the same rules as are applied to statutory payments and sick pay cannot be claimed at the same time as maternity pay, employees are therefore disqualified from receiving sick pay until the period of paid maternity pay has ended.

If an employee comes to the end of maternity leave and is too ill to return to work, whether this is because of childbirth or some other reason, she should still notify the department in the normal way that she wishes to return to work. If she remains too ill to return to work after the date on which she was intending to return to work, she must provide the department with a medical certificate and should be treated as though she had returned to work and was absent from work due to sickness.

Pensions

When an employee is on maternity leave, her normal employee contributions to her pension will continue to be deducted at the appropriate rate while she is on full pay and when she is on statutory maternity pay. The University will also continue to make its contributions at the appropriate rate. When the employee is on zero pay, no contributions are payable by either her or the University.

If, when she returns to work, she would like to make up the pensions contributions that she did not pay because she was on reduced or zero pay during maternity leave, the employee may do so. The Pensions Office will be able to advise the employee on her individual situation.

Annual leave/ caring for those who are sick, and dealing with domestic emergencies

In the early days of settling a very small child into a new care arrangement, in a nursery or with a childcarer, there are often quite a number of matters which may require new mothers to be absent from the workplace, such as minor illness to be dealt with, or teething problems with new care arrangements. New mothers may wish to consider retaining some of her accrued holiday leave to enable them to deal with these situations.

Whilst absence from work to attend to an emergency such as the sickness of a member of your immediate family or equivalent, or to attend to a family or domestic emergency will normally be paid in the first instance, it is intended that this is to enable employees to make the necessary arrangements for continued care or attention. Such paid leave will therefore normally be very limited (from half a day to no more than two days) and is not intended to cover repeated absences for minor problems, but rather to deal with exceptional circumstances. Additional leave, which will normally be unpaid or taken as annual leave, may be granted. In certain exceptional circumstances your department may grant a further limited period of paid leave for these purposes. It is important that these provisions are not abused and departments will monitor the frequency of leave requests.

Wherever possible employees must apply in advance to the departmental administrator, or head of department, or to the person to whom she would normally report sickness absence, and should not leave her place of work without having obtained permission from an appropriate person.