Work emails/meetings while I'm on maternity leave - is my boss being unreasonable?

[systemsdown]

I'm halfway through my maternity leave. Baby is six months old and I'll go back when she's 13 months.

I had my flexible working request approved by my previous (lovely) manager who, along with a lot of my team, has left. I'll be going back part-time, with a new manager.

I've said all along I'd be willing to work up to 10 KIT days, childcare permitting, and they seem keen - but nothing's being formalised. I've responded to emails (sent specifically to me with particular queries, at my personal email address, so as to avoid all the general work email clutter). I've been in for a team meeting, two events and a handover meeting. Nothing's been mentioned yet about remuneration, and I have now suggested in writing that we log what I've done to date as KIT hours and pay me my equivalent hourly rate for this and any further KIT hours worked from now.

I got a response from my new boss asking if I could start checking my work email account regularly (and so presumably responding to them too?) and also the intranet, so as to keep up to speed with developments at the organisation. She hasn't responded directly to my question about payment; instead, she has said it's important I realise she is a get-the-job-done-well type, not a "clock watcher", and it's up to me if I want to "keep my hand in" while on maternity leave.

Eh? How would you interpret that? OK, I'm sleep-deprived so could be seeing the worst, but I get the impression she views me logging my hours as being a clock watcher - but I thought you had to with KIT days? And when I go back, the reality is I won't be able to work late due to childcare (she also said she realised my "flexibility" would be limited by childcare). I feel a bit judged, noted as not work-focused enough, before I've even worked with her.

What do I do? Start logging in daily and "working" (I'm on the statutory minimum maternity pay BTW)? How do I respond to her reasonably? I'm mindful I'll be working with this woman when I return, so need to aim for a positive relationship, even though I feel on the back foot already.

Thanks.

[poocatcherchampion]

At my organisation kit days can only be taken as days not hours. I had to fudge mine after I did what you are doing. Might be worth a check with hr.

I think you need to aim for pleasant but firm. Possibly with the info above state that you still have 7 months off so it would be more appropriate to get plugged into work nearer the time. And that you have your hands full at the moment, ha ha lighten the mood. And then I'd be a bit slow on the personal emails too.

[systemsdown]

Thanks, poocatcher.

That's interesting about KIT days having to be worked as whole days where you are - I couldn't do that.

Yes, I need to keep the mood light. I just don't want to feel under pressure to check/respond to work emails regularly and keep fully up to speed with the organisation, all with baby in tow and for no remuneration (and to be thought of as a slacker if I don't).

Sigh.

Think I might contact HR.

[systemsdown]

Bump ... any other thoughts anyone? Feeling the pressure to get back to New Boss this week as to whether I'll regularly be logging on to check work emails, news, etc. Don't know when to fit it in around a baby who sleeps on me in the day and wakes throughout the evening and night!

[spanisharmada]

Re KIT days, where I work you can only do 10 'days' but the hours are negotiable.
Re the emails etc, fuck no! You'd be best off using the KIT days to get back up to speed in the run up to your return to work, so in the last 6 weeks say.

[DoreenLethal]

I always thought KIT days were paid as a full day even if you worked part of one.

check that out before you respond again OP.

[lougle]

Ten KIT days, but be aware that even 5 minutes at work/working counts as a day, unless it's a night shift in which case only one of the two days the shift spans will count.

So you can't do 75 hours over 7 months and claim that it was 10 KIT days. Any work over and above the 10 KIT days will lose you a whole week's SMP for the week that it falls in.

[TotalPerspectiveVortex]

Please be careful here OP as if you are working and it's not an official KIT day you could technically be ending your mat leave and returning to work.

I'll go see if I can find a link, but I would seriously be speaking to HR to clarify the situation before agreeing to anything.

[DragonsCanHop]

Where we work you can only use KIT days as days not in hours. From reading the above you have already worked 4 KIT days - a team meeting, 2 events and a handover meeting.

It doesn't matter if you were only there for 2 hours, that is one KIT day used.

I would suggest arranging a day in work to catch up on emails, using another KIT day. It's not acceptable to expect you to keep up in your own time, you can do all of that once you return from your mat leave.

There should be a form for you to complete for the "days" you have worked for payroll to proces along with your mat leave money. IE, you get paid for one days KIT minus the maternity leave payment (I'm hazy on this part but it's not paid hourly and needs calculating by payroll)

Don't let her persuade you to do more, assure her you will be fully onboard when you return and leave it at that.

[JeanSeberg]

Who's covering your role while you're off?

[Charis1]

Just respond saying you don't open work emails from home, and kindly request that work stops using your personal email address.

[Rainuntilseptember15]

The KIT days are how you are supposed to stay up to date, not regular emails ffs!

[Pico2]

I'd contact HR as our HR department is good at making clear to managers how they should deal with staff on maternity leave. They wouldn't let your manager away with those demands.

[systemsdown]

Thank you all for your posts. It's heartening to know I wasn't wrong to think work is asking a bit much.

I've contacted HR and had a response. They've said, consistent with your advice, that a KIT day is considered a whole day even if just a bit of it is spent doing agreed KIT work. So, because I can't leave my baby for more than about three hours (EBF and childcare availability), 10 KIT days would in reality be more like 30 hours.

It would seem, because the work I've done so far wasn't discussed and agreed as being KIT work beforehand, it doesn't count.

As for the checking emails request, I was hoping HR would say ooh no, your manager shouldn't be asking you to do that, but they were more woolly. They said I can check emails if I wish, it's up to me, but unless I'm checking emails as part of a KIT day, I would need to do it voluntarily, and that is my choice. So I can volunteer to check emails/attend events/go to meetings if I wish (as I have been, I guess).

(Can you tell I work for a non-profit?! )

So I still need to get back to my boss about her email checking request. My baby naps on me, so I'm not sure how I'd log on to the computer to check them while she's sleeping (am on here on my iPad). And I don't want to be doing it all that much TBH.

I want to make the right impression with my new boss, seem hard-working, etc - but I am on maternity leave and I don't want to end up being a mug and feeling stressed.

What do I say?

[tribpot]

The question about your maternity cover is very important here - someone else should be doing your job, or the work should have been put on hold until you return. You are doing way more than I think you should. Where is your maternity cover? What is he/she doing?

You should not be having to read the intranet to stay up-to-speed throughout your leave - any more than if you were off sick or on a sabbatical. This woman is pushing you to be the 'clock watcher' (WTF) and I suspect setting you up for when you get back. But short of actually cutting your maternity leave short and returning to work, that's a problem that will have to wait.

Your out of office message presumably says you aren't checking your work account. Make sure that remains true.

I would write back to your boss to say you have full confidence in your maternity cover and that you don't intend to check emails regularly as this may call your entitlement to SMP into question.

[systemsdown]

tribpot, thank you.

There was me and my immediate colleague doing our specific (quite specialised) work. She's now left, along with my manager. My emails had been diverted to them, because work couldn't recruit a specialist to my maternity cover, so have a new graduate with no experience covering me (she is lovely, but somewhat out of her depth). I think, now my immediate colleagues have left, my manager wants me checking my emails; it's a pain for her to have to keep on top of them.

I feel I need to show willing and try to get this working relationship off to a good start, without making life hard for myself. So I was thinking of going back saying I'm happy to check emails periodically when I can, but that work shouldn't depend on this. I thought I'd also clarify that 10 KIT days for me would in reality be 10 lots of about three hours, and that it might be good to use these more towards the end of my leave to get up to speed. I think I'll have to write off what I've done so far (this elicited the clock watcher comment). Does this sound like a plan?

I feel a nuisance to work/my new manager, an inconvenience, and as though it's a given that I should effectively be happy to work as a volunteer while on bloody maternity leave!

[AbbeyRoadCrossing]

www.maternityaction.org.uk/wp/advice-2/mums-dads-scenarios/pregnant/keeping-in-touch-days/

I work for a non profit too so feel your pain! KIT days are essentially that - for keeping in touch, not working your job as usual. And if you do more than the 10 you could lose your maternity pay by returning to work, so I'd be careful. In fact you could use that as an excuse - not that you need one - but point out the legal position, it sounds like your boss in unaware.

[addictedtosugar]

I'd reply with something to the effect of "suffering from lack of sleep ATM, so don't think work emails are appropriate, as I won't take on full significance. When baby (hopefully) sleeping better at 11 months, can we use one kit day a week in the lead up to my return to catch up on developments while I've been off."

Don't log on. You wouldn't if you'd left the company. Your off for 13 months. Leave them too it, and have a break, then go back ready for it having concentrated in your baby this year.

[tldr]

With 7 months of ML left to run you shouldn't even be having to think about work.

I'd politely decline to be checking work emails. I asked work to email me anything important at my personal email address and until I got in touch with them about my return I got exactly one email and that was my manager telling me she was moving on.

What a shame your passwords etc haven't expired. I actually wouldn't have been able to check work emails.

[DoreenLethal]

It would seem, because the work I've done so far wasn't discussed and agreed as being KIT work beforehand, it doesn't count.

I think you need to clarify this - if you do WORK then your maternity comes to an end - find the request for you to come in to prove it was a KIT day otherwise you could be AWOL if you don't go in.

If it isn't a KIT day then what was it?

[lorelei9]

er, I may be alone in this but to me it is entirely clear
you are on maternity leave. you are not supposed to keep up with your emails. If you had a burning urge to do that, sure, but you don't and there is no legality that you should?

the point of a KIT day is exactly that. I would set the ground rules with the manager frankly - what she has already said to you is a danger sign frankly.

tell her you will keep up to date via KIT, as you are supposed to - and will start reading your emails again when you get back to work.

I suspect if you do read your emails, the next thing will be that you are asked to act on stuff. This should be nipped in the bud. Hopefully an employment law type person will see this but I can't for the life of me see that you are doing anything wrong with saying you won't read your emails.

[tribpot]

Agreed. I appreciate you don't want to piss off this new boss before you've even gone back, but it isn't your fault your organisation has failed to secure proper maternity cover (or indeed replace your colleague who left, presumably she's not meant to be reading her ex-work emails to keep up with stuff!). They aren't paying you; even the SMP is refunded by the government.

I also agree - just because you didn't know that KIT days had to be arranged as KIT days in advance, it was your employer's responsibility to ensure the policy was correctly observed. Therefore if they asked you to come in it was a KIT day. The key word here is maternity leave.

[AnyoneButAndre]

Because I'm a bit overemolliant I'd reply saying "I agree completely, I'm not normally hung up on clock watching either. But because maternity leave is governed by so much inflexible regulation, I think that anything to do with KIT days needs to be nailed down and documented otherwise we could run into trouble. That's right isn't it Jane?" [Jane being the nicest member of HR, whom you have passive aggressively cc'd in to the chain]

[lorelei9]

Anyone, what does overemolliant mean please?m

I'm not sure your wording will work for the OP in terms of informal checking of email. Besides, I think this particular manager needs to have boundaries set very clearly....

[IWasHereBeforeTheHack]

Can you get clarity in writing from HR which makes clear the dangers of you undertaking any actual work while on ML, then ask HR to make it abundantly clear to your line manager? It sounds like she is probably blissfully ignorant on the details of ML and KIT days. Your line manager needs to be thinking more constructively about how to manage the next 7 months without you, and HR can probably help. Enjoy your baby!