URGENT INFO.... Maternity Leave and Adoption Leave

[oinker]

Hi,
Is leave and pay legislation the same for both?
I was on adoption leave in 2010... We were offred the opportunity to do concurrent planning with DS's new born sibling. We took the risk and went ahead with fostering the baby. During the whole process ofassessing family members as potential adopters my 52weeks adoption leave ran out. We had forseen this so had arranged for a career break to commence. This is due to end in 3 weeks. I have kept my employer informed of what was going on throughout my break.
We were finally matched with baby in September. I sent mathcing certificate to employer etc... they eventually returned it stating I was not eligible as my earnings were too low..... Actually my earnings were over as I was receiving a fostering allowance from Local Authority. As a foster carer you are not an employee of the LA you are classed as a volunteer.
I have checked the SOP's...
It mentions that if you fall pregnant whilst on a career break then you are entitled to same benefits as women who are in full time employment. No mention of Adoption....
It also mentions that though on a career break you are still an employee of the company.
Any ideas.....
Should we pursue this legally.... I'm worried they will try and force me out of my job, I can't return yet as babba is not yet adopted, we are waiting on courts as we have to wait 10weeks after placement to apply to adopt...

HELP

[Lougle]

If there is no occupational maternity pay, and it is just Statutory Maternity Pay, then if you haven't been earning (and the LA fostering allowance won't count as earnings) then you won't get any SMP. But, you should still get Adoption Leave, just no pay.

Even if there is occupational leave, then if it is based on your earnings, then you still won't receive any money.

[flowery]

You are still employed during adoption leave or maternity leave. You are entitled to contractual benefits and employment rights during both. Whether you are entitled to SAP will depend on your earnings (with your employer).

if your employer pays over and above statutory for maternity/adoption leave, they get to set the terms and conditions for that themselves, so you'll need to check the policy.

[oinker]

Thanks for the info....
Is my employer obliged to offer same pay and leave for adoption as for maternity.
They pay both SMP/ SAP and OMP/ OAP

They also do same leave for maternity as for adoption. It seems they have forgotten about adoption during career break as there is only mention of pregnancy during career break

[flowery]

They are not obliged to offer the same occupational pay for adoption leave, but it sounds as though they do .

Leave isn't something they have any control over. It's only occupational pay they can set any terms and conditions on. Not specifically mentioning every single possible eventuality in a policy doesn't mean your rights are affected.

[oinker]

I'm not too bothered about the pay. The leave is my concern. I'm in trouble if they say I have to get back to work in 3 weeks when my career break ends. According to their SOP you can only apply once in a calendar year for a career break?!

[flowery]

What's about that?? Sounds more than fair to me- you're not planning to ask for another career break are you?

[oinker]

No, I had planned to go back after 26 weeks which is in March.... But if they don't give me adoption leave what am I supposed to do. Babba won't be adopted in 3 weeks when my career break ends.

[flowery]

What do you mean if they don't give you adoption leave? As per my 10.01 post, they have no control over leave. The only thing they have any control over is setting terms on occupational pay.

[titchy]

I think the issue is that she can't apply for adoption leave yet as the baby isn't yet adopted. Is that right?

Can you apply to extend your career break until LO is adopted, then you go on adoption leave?

[flowery]

But until baby is adopted why will OP need adoption leave? Am I missing something here?

[titchy]

Presumably as she's fostering it at the moment she doesn't want to put it in childcare for a few weeks until the adoption goes through. I guess as she is on career leave, rather than any statutory leave at the moment she also wants confirmation her rights to adoption leave are protected.

[flowery]

Oh I see. All that talk about pay and not allowing leave confused me. If the problem is what titchy said, I would suggest applying for parental leave OP.

[oinker]

Flowery, I'm hoping that is the case... That is that they have no control over adoption leave. I just want to be able to stay home until babba is adopted. We have another 3 weeks before applying to the courts to adopt. Once we do it takes about 7 weeks ( took this long for DS) to get a court date to get adoption order.
After that I'm easy.... I will return straight away if that's what I have to do.

[oinker]

Just to clarify.....

My employer will pay SMP to an employee who has a baby during a career break. Their Career break will be frozen and can be resumed after maternity leave.
They do not mention adoption if you are on a career break..... There is nothing in place for me and my situation.. wish there was

[oinker]

Finally my HR have got back to me...
I am not entitled to any pay from them.
They wld only have paid if I had notified them of a match date within 15 weeks of going onto a career break. We only got the match after 10 mths.... So we are way off any allocation of allowance

I will be getting my 26weeks adoption leave and will get all normal employee benefits ( A/L) etc. whilst on leave.

Thanks for all your help and advice ladies.
I'm just happy being with my babies.