keep-in-touch days

[tostaky]

so how does this work in practice?

i have asked mny HR department but got a fuzzy reply with a link to the new staff handbook wghich doesnt say much either...

has anyone used it?
can i request not to be contacted for work for the first two months of my mat leave?
If i work 1 day in a week, i'll get no SMP but full pay for 1 day.
if i work three days in a week, i get no smp but 3 days full pay?

Thanks

[juneybean]

As far as I was aware, keeping in touch days don't affect your SMP, so you would get a full week of SMP plus your full pay for your 1 day.

But I could be wrong, one of the HR folk should be along soon! :D

[tostaky]

you get SMP as well as normal pay for the hours you've put in.. not instead of ?

[flowerybeanbag]

Keeping in touch days are agreed between yourself and your employer, you don't have to do them at all.

Rate of pay is agreed between individual and employer as well. It won't affect your SMP, so you will still get SMP for a full week any time you work any keeping in touch days. That doesn't necessarily mean you will get paid full days for KIT days though. You may find your employer will 'top up' your pay so that for KIT days you get a total of a full day's pay rather than a full day's pay plus SMP. That's for you to negotiate.

[mumnosbest]

I did 3 KIT days. They are for your benefit not works and they are optional. I used them so that I could keep up with training days and get paid. SMP wasn't affected but I had to claim for the KIT days on my return to work.

[Bubble99]

They are for both the employers and the employees benefit. That is why they have to be agreed. There is no automatic right to them on either side.

[mumnosbest]

Your handbook does say you are 'entitled' to them. and you working when on leave would benefit your employer so there's little reason for them not to agree really.

[Bubble99]

No, there is definitely no legal entitlement to them on either side. Why should an employer pay for unnecessary KIT days for a manager, for example, when they are paying an acting manager a manager's salary for covering her during maternity leave?

That said, and I am an employer, we are paying KIT days to our manager as we are keen (as is she) that she knows what's going on within our company.

[mumnosbest]

I'm not saying you should pay her to come in just for the sake of using KIT days but if she feels she needs to come in to keep up to date or to Take part in something to make her return easier then I think you'd have a difficult job in not allowing her to do so.

[SolosWhompingWillow]

Keep in Touch with my work is just news letters and management letters to staff etc...they post them through, no need to go in and only if you ask to opt in.

[mumnosbest]

I found my KIT days useful not just to keep up with training but also the turn-over of staff, and as a teacher to let the kids know I was still about. It made going back much less daunting.

[flowerybeanbag]

mumnosbest bubble is right, an employer can certainly refuse KIT days if they want to, no difficulty in not allowing them. They are a useful tool for both employee and employer but not something either party can insist on.

[mumnosbest]

maybe then, don't know the legal ins and outs. From my own experience though, the council certainly viewed it as an entitlement and it's something myself and colleagues/friends have all utilised with no probs. I thought it was like requesting flexi hours, your employer has to have good reason to turn you down, e.g. it would be detrimental to the business? In my case me working on leave was a good thing for all

[flowerybeanbag]

Absolutely mumnos, your employer may well have it as an entitlement contractually, which is their decision, and is good practice if they are in a position to do that.

But legally, there is no obligation on an employer to do it.

[1stMrsF]

My employer would pay a full day's pay for a KIT day, but that would 'include' SMP so if worked one day in a week would get 4 days SMP plus 1 day full pay.

[RibenaBerry]

I agree with what others have said. Most employers will top your pay up for KIT days so that you don't get a full week's SMP plus a full day's pay. You will get four days' SMP plus a day's pay in effect (what you technically get is (i)a week's SMP; and (ii) a day's pay less a day's SMP.)

KIT days are for the benefit of both parties, so neither has the right to insist upon them. Whilst councils etc might have policies on KIT days, employers don't strictly need a good reason to turn them down. It's not like flexible working in that respect.

In terms of your question about the first four weeks, you are absolutely fine to say to your employer that you are not interested in any KIT days in the first two months, but might be afterwards. That said, IME employers rarely suggest KIT days in the first three months. It tends to be something as someone is thinking of coming back. I suppose one might be suggested if there was an annual strategy session or something you might be interested in.

FWIW, I know people who found it quite useful to do a few KIT days once SMP ran out...