Returning to teaching after maternity 3 days instead of 4 days

[Del75]

Does anyone have any advice. I am on maternity leave and was working 4 days a week. I have requested to go back to my teaching job 3 days a week. My head says I can do 3 days as of 1st june but the situation for september would need to be reviewed. I'm not going back until 13th July so I can get paid for summer hols. I need to reply to Head confirming I want to do 3 days in september but NUT says I have to state reasons why it would be better for me to work 3 days rather than 4 - can anyone come up with ideas? I have 2 already the fact that a colleague in my department already does 3 days and another colleague who is on maternity and who is head of hummanities has been told she can do 3 days as of september so why can't I - going for the equality card and the fact that a precedent has been set. Also when I worked 4 days I still ended up doing full time work - e.g. being a form tutor. I really need help as this whole thing is getting me upset and stressed. I feel like not going back but then I would have to pay back some of my maternity pay. HELP!!!!

[flowerybeanbag]

A precedent is good to use, but those aren't reasons why it's better for you to work 3 days. Ideally you need reasons why it will be beneficial for your employer to agree to it. Have a read here for a guide to building an effective business case.

[Del75]

Thank you for the link - it looks like its easier to build case if you are working in an office environment but going to be tricky to apply that to school. All I can think of at the moment is mentioning a colleague who could help the department teach some classes and she is mentioned this to me because she is the colleague who is also on maternity. Also it will reduce the potential time off I may have due to child being ill. They will get better quality of work out of me as I will be happier in my role and more effective working 3 days. I would have less classes which could be the GCSE classes but could focus this rather than being spread across all the years as I was previous to my maternity leave. What do you think - its very hard?????

[flowerybeanbag]

It is hard, but you're thinking of good stuff already. Key is to identify how you will be a better and more productive employee, and how else they will benefit from the arrangement. If you're proposing a job share, you can say stuff about them benefiting from the experience of another member of staff, for example. Make sure you also address how the reduction in days will not have a negative impact on anyone - I don't know much about teaching but obviously there will need to be a reduction of some sort in your workload, and if you're not proposing a job share, make sure you address how that can be sorted out.

[Del75]

If I do not return to my teaching job after my maternity leave and therefore do the minimum number of weeks, does anyone know how much of the maternity pay would have to be paid back? And does this amount have to be paid back in full or can it be paid back in installments? Also what happens if you do not have teh funds to pay back the maternity pay?

[flowerybeanbag]

You need to check your maternity policy to find that out.

SMP doesn't have to be paid back, but if you get more than SMP, which I expect you do, it's up to your employer to decide how much if any of the extra must be paid back.