All the hassle with managers breathing down your neck and expecting you to actually do the job you were so keen to get will be over once the person your covering for is back from her maternity leave. Shouldn’t be too long now.
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Alice got the job doing maternity cover in June 2016, I think.
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A ha!
[taps nose knowingly] So, about to be out on her shell-like unless the previous incumbent has been foolish or careless and is hatching another.
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So the statutory twelve months is nearly up. If the atmosphere’s as competitive as Alice makes out, I can’t see anyone risking their career prospects by going for the second year.
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[quote=“joe, post:4, topic:353”]So the statutory twelve months is nearly up[/quote]Due to an extraordinary decision in the European Courts women accrue holiday during the year they are off (thus getting time off from time they were … err … off !!).
Along with some other allowances the statutory max can stretch out now to as much as 15 months, despite the stated max being 12m.
“Confused ? … You will be !!”
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What if she’d been ill - would she have been able to add sick leave to her mat leave?
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[quote=“Marjorie, post:6, topic:353, full:true”]
What if she’d been ill - would she have been able to add sick leave to her mat leave?
[/quote]Astonishingly the answer is ‘yes’, within the limits of her sick leave entitlement.
The sex-discrimination laws have got tangled up in Maternity rights and it’s lunacy out there.
My local ACAS person, and even the Full Time Unite official have expressed their amazement to me a few times. Not that it stops them maxing their ‘rights’, of course.
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Well you couldn’t make it up!
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Reminding (some) people that maternity leave isn’t actually a holiday* may not be a bad thing.
*Who wants to swap 9-5 with 24/7?
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joe, you’re not suggesting there is a statutory entitlement to sympathy as well, are you?
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Not a bad idea Gus! No sleep, wiping up shit and vomit …
And that’s just after the Christening party
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The boss was invited then?
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Nah - the sod gatecrashed. Didn’t even bring a bottle…
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[quote=“joe, post:9, topic:353”]
Reminding (some) people that maternity leave isn’t actually a holiday* may not be a bad thing.
[/quote]No. But to get unused holiday entitlement (unused because they weren’t effin well there to use it) added to the entitlement is crackers.
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From vague memories of my distant past as an employee, holiday entitlement had to be used within the year in which it accrued, so presumably the issue arises if maternity leave spans two tax years? Or has that changed. (Spent rather a lot of time reading up on employment law over the last few years, but that was concerned with the construction industry; for some reason, maternity leave was never an issue.)
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Holiday entitlement varies, but if it’s carried over it’s a liability on the books so the accountants usually get it specified as “use or lose”.
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[quote=“joe, post:15, topic:353”]
From vague memories of my distant past as an employee, holiday entitlement had to be used within the year in which it accrued[/quote]It is often the case, yes. Though some employers are more flexible and allow a degree of carry-over, or anticipation of holiday.
In theory, the amount can be balanced by proportioning the holiday entitlement (ie. if Maternity begins on say Oct 1 … giving 3 months worth in that year and 9 months worth in the next). It is, in fact, a lot more complicated that and is often more is awarded in each of the years than that simple ratio might imply.
It’s a very complicated arena and the slightest misstep lands you immediately in the deep, dark World of unintended Sex-Discrimination.
I’ve found it tactically astute to normally have women HR types manage the detail. They tend to understand, and empathise, more than I do.
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