I have drawn a complete blank! It's been so long since I've had to use this part of my brain and I'm not having much luck 1 of our employees who works part time (4 days per week) is going on Mat leave, her last day is 31st March Our annual leave runs from 1 Jan - 31 Dec She wants to know how much holiday she would be entitled to before she goes off Has anyone got a calculator or website I can use please? Thanks

Hi, Really need a bit of advice before I make a mistake please. I run a small family business, not going to change the world but make enough to take care of life. Two years ago we needed a salesperson. We interviewed and against my better judgement my partner employed a, let's say, "woman of childbearing age" despite the fact that the other best candidate was male and very old, and of an "ethnic persuasion" that I don't think my partner is comfortable with, (that's a whole different story lol!) So, we trained her at great expense to the company in terms of courses, time off, certification, etc. But she was really good, made a lot of sales and I ate my humble pie. However. Sure enough, I was unfortunately proved correct and within 7 months of being in post she informed us she was pregnant. Great! Party cakes and baby showers and all the other BS we have to pretend to show we're happy employers! She took maternity leave back in May and we agreed to pay her full salary, despite her working here less than two years, but on the understanding we'd keep the job open for her. I've just had the text, (not even an ffing phone call or email) from [edited] saying she's not coming back. Sorry if I seem bitter, but I always said this would happen if you employ women in their twenties, but apparently it's not cool to ask the question at interview for fear of upsetting the little snowflakes. SO now I'm left with having to find another person for the job despite all the money I spent training her, and the free money she had sitting on her ass for 6 months breastfeeding my dollar bills to her kid. Anything I can do? Can I sue her for breach of contract? Can I claim back the training fees? I knew this would happen, or is the moral of the story once again never to employ a young female candidate or trust her word? Any advice would be really appreciated, (and I don't mind if you want to call me misogynistic lalalala, but anyone who runs a struggling small business will know exactly what I'm talking about.)

Hi, I wonder If someone can give some advice. My friends daughter had her baby a month ago and is on maternity leave. She has worked for her employer for over 6 years. Last week she received in the post a letter from the employer to say they are making her redundant. Are they allowed to do this ?? It is a major company and I'm not sure where she stands with the situation. Thanks in advance for any advice

Hi, after some advice please! In July 2014 I returned to work after 9 months maternity leave. Before I left, I trained up another employee to cover my job during maternity leave. I had therefore expected to return to the same role after the 9 months, as the job is still active. However on my return I was shown to a different desk in an adjoining office and told I would learn that role. Nothing at all was mentioned about my previous role. Well 8 months on, still nothing has been mentioned about my return, my previous role, current role etc etc and the other employee is still doing my previous job. Surely this is wrong??? If my job still exists and there is no business reason why I could not have it back, I should be doing that job!!! BTW I have been at the company 15 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am currently on Maternity leave, my twin boys were born on 8th May and I'm in the middle of a very complex Discrimination case! Acas concilliation is involved and has just authorised a 14 day extention for both parties to negotiate a settlement agreement. I'm in the middle of doing a schedule of loss and I have most of it sorted. My problem is knowing when I should resign. I have been on Maternity leave for 13 weeks to date. I don't want to loose out on any holiday entitlement. Is there anyone who can advise please. I have seen a solicitor and I do have grounds for several claims but I am doing this myself as I cannot afford to pay a professional. Many thanks H xx

Hello all A dear friend of mine has been working for a major pub chain for over 2 years and recently been granted an in-house transfer to another establishment within the same company. After consulting her new manager about the unexpected news that she is pregnant, she has been informed that her transfer is invalid due to her previous manager terminating her contract instead of transferring her contract to her new place of employment. As she is now technically classed as a 'new employer',what are her maternity pay / leave rights? Thanks in advance

Hi I really could use some help with my situation. Im employed by a large UK organisation as a Project Manager. I have a contract which says location - home based, and travel to national offices as required. I have worked there almost 6 years. Im currently on maternity leave and due to return to work in May. The main office I have to travel to is London and I live in the Midlands, they pay my expenses but a normal working office day is leaving home at 4.30am and getting home at 8.30pm - sometimes I stay overnight in which case I leave the hotel at the second day at 7am so both days Im in the office at 7.30am and leave about 4-5pm depending on meetings. I was placed under a new manager in Nov 12 and was pregnant at the time, I unfortunately had a very late loss of my baby in Jan 13, spent a month off sick, returned to work but was pregnant again within a few weeks. I only worked 1/2 days per week in the office during the majority of my time with the organisation until Dec 13 when I went on maternity leave. I met with my manager today as we agreed we would discuss my return to work. He says his vision of me coming back is 2/3 days per week in the office, happy to pay my expenses and I can choose whether I commute daily (16 hr day) or stay over - I have a 3 month old,9 yr old and 15 yr old at home. The meeting has really upset me as I wasnt expecting what he said. My query is whether they can insist I do this, or whether this is a change to my contract as I've not had to do it before? I said I thought the days required were excessive and were they accounting somewhere for the commuting time, as my contract is home based so I earn and clock up working hours as soon as i leave the house, but he said that they had previously been accomodating bcause of my two pregnancies and now that wouldnt happen because the business requirement is for me to be in the office much more. In addition, when I first became pregnant and they allocated staff, I recieved an email telling me the other person in my role (theres two of us managing a team) would be managing all of the staff "because you are pregnant" - I argued this in writing and said I felt discriminated against so they changed it and I got 50% of the staff allocation - I lost my baby shortly after, and then last November a staff member under my management was off sick with depression and my manager decided to do her interview at home rather than me, and wrote in the confirmation letter "normally Emma would do this interview but as she is pregnant I will be visiting you" The reason was actually because she was in the London office, I was only in the office 1 day per week and she decided unilaterally that she would go, and didnt give me a choice. I guess what I am asking is have I got grounds to ask for just 1/2 days per week in the office? And have they been behaving a bit badly with the constant references to my pregnancies? I think I can apply for flexible working, but I think I already have this by virtue of my contract. And if they refuse then can I be in the position of looking for constructive dismissal? Many thanks for any help - I feel very down about this.

I previously worked in an NHS hospital pharmacy and have now returned from maternity leave to work in an NHS funded GP surgery. My previous employer wants me to repay my maternity pay as I have 'failed to return to NHS employment'. The new job was advertised on the 'NHS Jobs' official website, I still pay into an NHS pension, my work email address is *********@NHS.net and I have an NHS Care Records Service card to enable me to access the NHS computer system (the exact same one I used in my previous job!!!!) Yet, my previous employer insists this is not an NHS job. I'm so confused and worried about the prospect of having to pay thousands back Any help is much appreciated, L

Hello, I was hoping someone could help with the following issues my partner is having with the possibility of not receiving any SMP or Maternity Allowance. The baby is due on the 12th April 2014. She was looking to start the Maternity leave on the 25th Jan 2014. She has is now suffering from PGP which is causing terrible back pains and it is looking like she is going to be sign off on the sick. Now I believe that her qualifying period in which SMP is worked out is 28th Sept 2013 till 29 November 2013. Now is this calculation just to see if she qualifies for SMP or is this period used for how much SMP she will receive. An accountant we have spoke to believes if she were to go on the sick now or at the end of November she will NOT be entitled to SMP. So then I have a look a Maternity allowance. I tied the Gov.uk calculator for this and it got confusing when it asked if she will still be employed on 22nd December 2013 if I answer yes to this then the calculator assumes she is entitled the SMP from employer, however if I choose not she gets Maternity Pay but does being on the sick class as being employed for this purpose? I hope this makes sense and some can help as to what she may get and who from. Thanks

Im on mat leave and due to go back next May. I still regularly speak with people from work, however everytime I speak with someone it always comes back to the same subject. Whats going to happen when I go back to work. When I left in August they promoted someone to my job and in turn 4 people have been promoted to fill the spaces through promotions due to my leaving. However... they all are saying they have not been informed that its only for maternity cover and they will be returning to their other roles once I return. This is especially for the person who has taken over my job, he has made it plain and clear to me that he doesnt know whats going to happen once I go back as hes got his new contract and they cant take it off him and demote him when they didnt say it was only to cover me. So I just basically want to know if work are allowed to do this? Its going to make it very very awkward for me when I go back.

Please could someone offer some advice. My fiancee has been working as a receptionist for a company for 9 years (since 2004). Four years ago (2008), she fell pregnant with our first child, and had nine months maternity. She could not work as a full-time receptionist, so they offered her a part-time weekend job, which she accepted at a reduction of her salary (apparently her responsibilities were less so they reduced her wage from £7.50 an hour to £6.80 an hour). Last year, she fell pregnant and has taken nine months maternity again. This time, she has had a couple of meetings, and they have told her that they cannot offer her the weekend job back, but there is a role in the canteen (which are at awkward hours). They have also offered her redundancy, but apparently they can only offer her redundancy of her new job, since she's been part time, so they are only paying her 4 years redundancy (£750). Are they in their rights to offer her a redundancy to her new job? I would have thought it's when you have been employed, regardless of what role?? It seems to me that they want to get rid of her, and they want to pay as little redundancy as possible (hence paying part-time wage than full-time). Any help would be appreicated.

Hi, I need some advice about Sure Start Maternity Grant.I am pregnant and last week i sent filled form for this fund.As they write you can get if you or your partner receive benefit.So I sent because my partner receive income related employment and support allowance.I received letter today.They said I am not entitled to a payment because I don't receive benefits but they didn't mention nothing about my partner benefit.Do I have to contact them to look at my case again?

Hi all, I have been lurking on this forum for a while and read some excellent advice however my situation seems unusual and has been troubling me for months, It’s a bit of a long one. I began working for a company in Sept 2012 after a pretty rigorous recruitment process and was offered a permanent part time position subject to a usual 6 month probation period. All seemed to be going well, I got on with my department, involved myself with planning and running extra activities and had a positive appraisal meeting in Dec where my line manager asked me if I would take on more hours. I agreed and In Jan 2013 my hours were increased to full time . However I discovered I was pregnant over Christmas and perhaps foolishly decided to tell my line manager before my probation ended as he was pressuring me to commit to projects later in the year that I would not be able to do. I felt confident doing this as I had no reason to believe my performance was ever in doubt. The attitude of my line manager changed immediately, he questioned me there and then about whether I would take maternity leave, how long for, would I definitely return etc and how this would make his life very difficult later in the year. Just over a week later I was called into a meeting with the manager and told I had ‘failed’ my probation due to concerns about my performance and how I didn’t seem to ‘fit in’. I could have been given my months notice there and then but they asked me to stay on in the same capacity for a further 5 months which seems at odds with their ‘concerns’. The manager denied knowing I was pregnant. I realize that I could have been got rid of with no warning at any time during my first 2 years but am convinced I am only being ‘let go’ because my pregnancy would cause problems and hassle for my line manager who was the source of the apparent concerns about me and the end of the probation period gave them the excuse to do it. I wish now I had made more fuss at the time the decision was made (early feb) but was shocked and scared about stress created if I complained (my line manager can be quite aggressive when challenged) and wanted to secure my SMP which would be paid if I stayed on . Management also tried to placate me by saying they would give me a reference if I basically melted away. However the longer it has gone on the more aggrieved I feel about my treatment and the fact I will have the stress of having to find a new similarly paid job in a difficult area with a young baby. Basically do I have a case for unfair dismissal due to sex discrimination. Thanks for any advice.

Hi all im hoping someone can give me a bit of advice. Im due to go back to work on June 3rd after being off on maternity leave (my older posts explain the problems i had there, but ive now got a lovely little boy called max) My maternity pay finished 2 weeks ago and i am now using up 4 weeks holiday from last year. A couple of weeks ago i popped into where i work and my boss (a new one not the one from my previous posts but hes just as bad) approached me and asked if i could pop into work one day to discuss my rota when i return to work....he already knew the date i had proposed to come back and he was fine with this. We had the above mentioned meeting yesterday and he sat me down in the canteen, my son was with me as i have no one to look after him, he got his diary out and asked again when i was returning to work so i told him and he then asked what i wanted from this meeting......i thought we were talking about the work rota not having a meeting. He asked about my circumstances, about my parents, about my sons father......some quite deep probing questions that i didnt think were relevant, but i told him as he then cant turn round and say i said nothing. Now this is where im kicking myself because he asked about my working hours and what can and cant i do........as i hadnt made a written request for flexible working within 28 days of my return. Have i completely blown any chance of working around my childcare? I have no one, and when i say no one i mean no one, to help me with my sons and im scared to death now im not going to be able to work the hours he wants me to do and i think he knows hes got me over a barrel. Ive had so much going on since having my son, losing my home, being the victim of DV, going to court for restraining orders, being made homeless again by my sister kicking me out.......my head hasnt been where it should be so i never even thought about flexible working request. Anyway i told him i had found a nursery for my baby just around the corner from where i work, that had been a struggle in itself as places are few and far between. The nursery is only open monday to friday 8am - 6pm, i said to my boss i would like to work 9-2pm monday to friday....i cant work weekends as ive got no childcare, i cant do 6am starts as ive got no one to take my other son to school and i cant do 10pm finishes as i dont have childcare and i dont have anyone to fetch my son from school......my sons school is 14 miles from where i live so he cant walk. Ive been told by my boss that he cant see how this will work as im a "team leader and in effect im there to run shifts and manage the staff" and "if i start at 9am monday to friday there will already be a manager there whos been there since 6am so there would be no point me being there" Hes said he can look into moving me to another store but he doesnt think anyone will want me due to my working hours. He said he will have to speak to HR to seek advice and if they tell him i can come back on my requested hours then "hes stuck with me on those hours" if they say i cant do those hours then he doesnt know what im going to do. Have i totally ballsed this up by not putting in a flexible working hours request? I cant see his reason as to why i cant do those hours as being a valid reason, but again ive put nothing down in writing so i dont think i have a leg to stand on if he says no. Stressing out here and thats not good Help! Thanks in advance x

Hi, I wasn't sure where to post this so I followed the guidance notes and posted it in the Welcome Forum. I went on maternity leave in June 2012. My company's policy is 90% of salary for the first 6 weeks then SMP for the next 33 weeks. For the remaining 13 weeks my job is kept open for me but with no pay (so pretty much standard maternity terms). For months running up to me going off on leave, I kept asking HR to give me details of what my SMP would be. They told me I would receive a letter once my leave started but I never did. From June - November of my leave, I was being paid 100% of my salary. I phoned HR to tell them but no one answered the phone nor returned my call. In December I received a payment of approximately 50% of my normal monthly salary. In January I received nothing. I phoned the Payroll department. They said that HR had forgotten to tell Payroll that I was on maternity leave hence my normal salary payments had continued. They said that HR had told them to stop all further payments to me. My SMP should have continued until April but all payments ceased in January. I tried again to contact HR to discuss what had happened - and also to find out what the 50% payment in December was for. Again, no one answered the phone and no one returned my call. I assumed that the 50% payment was them balancing out their books with what had been paid to me and what should have been paid to me. In March I received a letter advising me of my bonus. The payment did not go into my bank so I contacted HR - and finally spoke to someone. She said that she had not instructed Payroll to withhold my bonus and that she would "sort it out". I chased and chased by email and phone to find out what was happening - receiving no explanation. Finally a couple of weeks ago I received a letter from HR saying that I had been overpaid and then had recovered some of the money by stopping my payments and by witholding my bonus but they still want me to pay £990. I emailed them asking for a breakdown of how they worked it all out. After chasing several times for this, they emailed me a Payroll spreadsheet of numbers and accronyms that meant nothing to me. I asked them (by email) twice for an explanation of it but they ignored me. They now want to meet with me - I doubt very much if they will intend to answer my questions or explain the breakdown, however. My question is, do I have to repay the money? Given that I did not know how much monthly pay I should have been receiving - despite asking them over and over for this. Further, while I have been on maternity leave, boss went off on sick leave and they appointed someone else in his place (whether that is legal is another question and not my battle to fight!). They did not tell me about this. My husband works for the same company so he found out and told me. I am not sure if this adds any weight to my case - that they have not fairly kept me in the loop whilst on maternity leave. Thanks in advance.

Hi, i'm currently on maternity leave from a large company, the business is currently in the process of switching so i could be facing redundancy if i am unsuitable for home working. There was a job opportunity for a promotion to team leader, which i was told may be coming up, but was never actually informed that they were accepting applications etc and they have now allocated the jobs out. does this sound like i have been discriminated against as i was on maternity leave and not given the opportunity to apply or be interviewed? Thanks, Marie

Hi all, I am employed has a class 2 driver i being with the company since april 2011. I was pregaent in april when i notify my boss and the company did a risk assesment and we decided i couldnt carry on doing the driving job while pregent due to health and safety has i was at risk of falling from the wagon and also i couldnt lift the any loads of the vehicle. So we agree that i be train on the computer system and help out, then a lady from another branch was leaving and she did admin so i moved to that branch which was closer to me anyway and i do that job until i go on maternity leave then on my returned back to work of maternity i be doing my old job. Right not a problem so far apart from before i left the branch to work at the other branch i was told by the boss/manager that he can only keep my driving job open for 6months when my maternity starts. I just wonder if he can hold me like this has i love the driving job and i thought that my job would be save for me at least for the 12months if i decided to stay off that long, it is more and likely i go back at the end of 9months. I feel pressure in returning to work early then i want too. Can he do this?.

Hello, I am thinking of trying for my second baby in the next few months. I only work two days a week but last week was asked to start doing 3 days. I wanted to say no but have since spoken to a friend who said to check how it will effect my maternity pay. On the calculator online it says I would get £83 p/w working two days a week and if I do 3 days it would be around £135 p/w. What I don’t know is how many weeks before I announce I am pregnant do I have to be doing 3 days? I have been with them 1 year in March. Any info would be great, thanks. FYI my earnings are approx £50 per day. Melissa

Hi I am currently on maternity leave and have just been informed formed by post that I will be made redundant. Everyone else was advised 24hrs prior in a face to face meeting with HR that I was not advised of/ invited to. I feel like I have been discriminated against as I am currently on leave. Should they have invited me in or at least phoned me after the meeting? Thanks

My employer and I appear to have reached deadlock on the issue of maternity pay and non-cash benefits. If anyone can answer the following queries, I would be eternally grateful! 1./ Are all salary sacrifice schemes classified as non-cash benefits? I (am not on mat leave until Monday 1st October) currently sacrifice £243 pcm for childcare vouchers and 6% of my salary (approx £122pcm) towards a pension scheme - employer matches this. As I understand, the whole 12% is counted as employer contributions and is classified as a non-cash benefit. I am not able to leave either scheme at will, there has to be either a lifestyle change, or I think I can leave the pension in April each year. Is this correct? 2./ Do non-cash benefits have to continue through the whole period of maternity leave, paid and unpaid? 3./ I receive some contractural pay (100% for 6 weeks and 50% for the next 12 weeks) - this is, obviously, available to be sacrificed - but my pay must not be reduced below SMP at any time. 4./ At no point during my mat leave is there enough contractural pay to cover the entire £365pcm salary sacrifice - does my employer have to make up the difference? For example, my monthly salary liable to Class 1 NI's is £1681.10pcm. This gives me an average weekly earnings of £388, which means in the first 6 weeks my SMP is £349.20 and contractural pay is £38.80. Therefore in October, a month containing 5 Mondays, I would expecting to receive gross pay of £1940 of which £1746 is SMP and £194 is contractural pay. What should happen with the childcare vouchers and pension payments? 5./ In the subsequent 12 weeks, my SMP is £135 per week and contractural pay is £59 per week. In a 4 week month this gives £236 of contractural pay and in a 5 week month this would be £295 - again, not enough to cover the £365 sacrifice. Again - I guess they take the entire contractural pay, but what about the extra bit? We are both quoting the HMRC guidlines on this, but interpreting them differently. To complicate things, I was TUPE transferred into this company on 1st July this year, and the new company accepted the old companies maternity policy (which is based on the HMRC guidlines) and again, we are both quoting this and disagreeing. Can anyone shed any light on this matter? A colleague of mine is in the same position, albeit already on maternity leave, and she will run out of time to file an employment tribunal claim on 26th October (3 months - 1 day since she was first paid incorrectly), so we really need to resolve this quickly. They are saying that I cannot expect to be paid more on maternity leave than when I'm at work, but my opinion is that it is a transferring T&C anyway, and the HMRC guildines are that this is what happens and it's unfortunatley generous to the employee under this particular set of circumstances. If I'm wrong, I will happily accept it, but I've read and reread the documents a number of times and I cannot see how they are reaching their interpretation. Help? Liv

hi everyone, i have worked for a casino for 3yrs and before i went on maternity i was working flexible hours and days on a permanent contract. there are 4 people on my reception department and 1 other women also went on maternity 6 weeks before me! she however was on a set hours and days contract as she already had 1 child and this was agreed to help childcare issues. Anyway, I am due back in Feb and the other women in Jan. I went in to work today for a meeting as I need to sort out what the plans are so I can arrange childcare. I have asked for set days mon-fri as nurserys are only open weekdays and day shifts only, no nights as nurserys are not open nights! I am not with the father of my baby anymore and he doesnt live local so cant be reliable help and my mother works so also cant help. My work have said they can give me just day shifts but not set days mon-fri as it wouldnt be fair to the other people on the department, which I get but she has agreed this with the other women and she only does Thurs-Sun day shifts for childcare reasons. So why can I not do mon-weds? She said she cant do that as it wont be fair to the other 2 to give them only night shifts, ok fair point but why does the other women get a set contract and I dont?? Surely it should be no to both of us, not one and not the other? I think this is very unfair and showing favourtism and I dont feel like I am being accomodated. I have spoken to nurserys around me and they will not let me be flexible with the days, they said I have to give them set days so they know child numbers! At this rate I wont be able to go back to work at all! I said perhaps I could be flexible and do waitressing instead if theres more flexibility in that department but they said I could do that but would have to take a paycut as waitresses are on a lower wage than a receptionist wage! Ive been there for 3yrs surely they cant cut my pay? I dont know my rights and they really do not like you going to HR, they feel thats going over the managers head and they like to keep it within the casino!

I am a one man employer. I employ one person whose maternity leave payments have just finished. She is due to return to work but during her absence, though not because of it, business has slumped. I cannot afford to continue employing her and must reluctantly let her go. I have no other job for her to do and am not planning on employing anyone else to do her job. Can anyone advise on the correct procedure and what her rights are ?

Morning. I'm just looking for a bit of advice please. I am due to start maternity leave in October and I have asked NRAM for a maternity break, however they say that I may not qualify because my mortgage is one month in arrears (it was 2 months from losing a second job last year, but I have been regularly paying for almost 12+ months), and I would need to bring it up to date. I am concerned because although I get an enhanced payment from my employer but I am going to struggle with the payments for Dec - March. I am only taking 6 months from work, and will be returning to normal payments after this. Any advice on how to challenge or how to meet the payments please?

I was on mat leave but got made redundant due to a merge of depts and there was a suitable new role. I was made to go through the whole interview process etc and was 'unsucessful' for one of the new roles. Since i left on mat leave (last april) the company had been taken over and there is a new manager that i had not even met till i got called in for the 'at risk' meeting. I have received my final pay, redundancy pay and p45. I appealed stating that i did not want a job due to breakdown in relationship and feel demeeded by the whole process. 3 weeks later i received a letter saying my appeal was upheld and i should contact my manager to make arrangements to go back. I do not want to go back and made it very clear, i want compensation for loss of earnings till i find another job. I have tried to consiliate with them through acas, but (3 weeks later) are not willing to conciliate and will defend any claine stating that they made a simple mistake that they imidiattly put right by offering a job, they don't believe there is any breake down in the relationship of breech of contract!! My questions are:- if i go to a tribunal how likely is it that the outcome would be a job? and if that is the out come would i have to go back. what would happen about the redundancy money i have already received? Do i really need a solicitor? i really can't afford one. I only have 10 days till the ET 3 month deadline as they have dragged their heels! Thank you

Right I first gave intent to take maternity leave by filling out works form. This was back in March. The only contact I heard was via my manager saying that I needed to give them my Mat B form and then they would contact me. As I understand it they were to contact me within 28 days of reciept of this form saying if I can take the leave and the confirmed dates? ... I sent in my form at 24 weeks and they said they did not recieve this. I then sent another recorded delivery at 29 weeks and have only just heard they recieved it last week. I am now waiting for the official what happens next ... They have said so and so will contact me ... and I never hear anything. Now tomorrow is my last day! And still so and so will contact me. I have had nothing in writing. I am scheduled on a working shift Friday. This is the first day I have given as my maternity date. What am I do to? Go with the fact I told then just stay off or as I have not recieved a confirmation that I can take the leave do I have to go in? If I don't where do I stand in regards to disaplinaries etc when they say I never turned up for my shift? ... If I had had a baby before I would know what was happening! However as I haven't I don't know where I stand or what I am meant to do next. Especially as they were meant to get back to me within 28 days ... Thanks in advance!