Extended mat leave

[Laaalaaaa]

I’m due to go back to work in November however after recently speaking to my boss it had been suggested by senior management that I take an additional 12 weeks off. This is due to annual leave I carried over before I went off and the full year of annual leave accrued during my leave which with me decreasing the days I work means my accrued leave goes that bit further.

Technically I’d be on holiday and getting my new salary in full. Part of me thinks this is great but there’s something niggling at me. I have suggested maybe taking 8 weeks holidays and keeping 4 back but I don’t think this went down well. What would you do in this situation? I should add that I truly believe my job is safe - this was initially mooted before coronavirus.

[DivGirl]

When does the annual leave year run from?

[Laaalaaaa]

October to October so I went off bang on the end of the year. Why?

[DivGirl]

Yeah, that's nuts then. It would leave you with no annual leave for 10 months of the year. Offer to take it so you're level with what you've accrued. For example of you've got 6 weeks "banked" until your return date of 01/11/2020 using the banked dates takes you up to the middle of December, but you'll have accrued another 2 or 3 days in that time which would give you a return date of the 21st-ish.

Maybe breaking it down for them would be helpful?

[Africa2go]

I think if you're going back part time, depending on what you do, 12 weeks off in one year (a week here, a week there) is really difficult with continuity. If you're client facing / have project work / anything that needs picking up whilst you're away, covering that for sporadic holidays of 12 weeks (compared to the usual 4 say) would be problematic for most businesses.

Asking you to take it before you go back means that whoever is covering now can probably continue, and they don't have the problem as above. They also probably thought you would jump at the chance to get a full salary after extended maternity leave - so probably nothing sinister in it.

I would say though that if it is ALL your annual leave for the current period (meaning you wouldn't have any until the new annual leave period starts) that would not be sensible especially if you're going to use a nursery / childminder. You need the flexibility of some annual leave to make it work.

[Laaalaaaa]

@DivGirl I’ll have my full entitlement for the new year thanks to the leave I was entitled to carry over from past year, a generous AL entitlement and the days from reduced hours that will mean I take less days for a full week off. Obviously I understand my new allocation will be less due to part time hours.

[Laaalaaaa]

@Africa2go it’s incredibly generous and I guess especially now they’ll be glad not to have to worry about all my extra leave but there’s just something that seems to good to be true if you know what I mean!

[Stuckforthefourthtime]

It makes sense for them too - they're assuming things will be slow for a while but ramp up, so this helps you be home and minimise risk and gives them some more certainty that you won't want a month off at Christmas, or to roll it all over to next year and take 2 months off when (if?!) a vaccine arrives.

If you'll still have a year of leave left, and you feel your job security is good, I'd take it. If you're likely to be made redundant, then maybe go back so you can ask for it to be paid out.

[Gillian1980]

It’s pretty much what I did for both of my maternity leaves. Felt nice having longer off with the bonus of being paid again after months of SMP.