Please tell me about taking maternity leave as an RA?

[Poppyismyfavourite]

Hi All,
I've just found out that I'm pregnant (5+5) which happened rather sooner than we thought!

I'm an RA on a 3 year project, I started in October, and passed my probation in April. The project ends September 2022.

Please tell me your experience of taking maternity leave as an RA? Do they hire someone to cover for the leave? I doubt they can pause the project as it's a big one - 2 Universities with 4 RAs and 4 academics (and a few masters students and an intern).

Depends on the funding organisation. Some will extend the funding by the time you took as maternity, others do not. You May be eligible for smp but again check your funding as it varies depending on whether it's employment or stipend.

Whoa I assumed I would get smp??? I am employed by my university?

Wow you scared me! I've just checked my contract, and it says I am entitled to maternity leave according to the University's policy... phew

Good luck with your pregnancy and congratulations. We employed an RA who got pregnant and her maternity leave was too soon after starting work for her to get enhanced leave, annoyingly for her. Check how long you have to be in post for the full package.

It was a short project and she decided she didn't want to come back so we employed someone casual for the end of the project; we got more time but no more money from the RC.
We could build in a break to the project so if she'd wanted to come back we could have waited but some projects don't work like that and they would have to employ cover and then cut short your employment at the end (or more correctly end it at the original end time).

Your project may also end up paying your enhanced maternity pay... we were threatened with this.

Thanks @worstofbothworlds we were quite careful not to stop contraception too early, at my uni you have to have been in post for 26 weeks, 15 weeks before pregnancy (which I will have), and come back for 3 months after your leave (which I will) - I was really worried that it'd take ages to conceive and we'd have to stop because of being too near the end of the contract.

I feel pretty bad that I've done exactly what some academics fear - they hired a youngish woman and she immediately went and got pregnant!

I feel pretty bad that I've done exactly what some academics fear - they hired a youngish woman and she immediately went and got pregnant! Please don't feel like this and definitely don't let slip that this is how you feel.

Don't feel bad - but do lobby the university/your MP/the RC about why the PI will probably be paying your maternity pay out of their budget (it MAY not be the case but do check and complain!)

I think it's a central fund - sure I read that somewhere...
they actually pay full pay for a while, I think 18 weeks - need to check if I qualify.

Ideally I'd want them to "pause" me so I can come back and stay for longer at the end - I'm guessing that's unlikely though

If the grant is NOT paying the maternity leave then the RC will be happy to give a no cost extension so they could pause you.
We were, as I said, threatened with having to pay occupational maternity pay from the grant. Awful but that's what they said. I would really check properly.

Hmm ok. I hope that is the case then.
My boss is great and pretty switched on (and a very good manager) although I doubt he's had a pregnant RA before... It's a very male dominated field.

Where I am, it's department funds rather than central funds that pay enhanced salary of research staff during maternity/parental leave when the funders don't cover it fully. Some funders have arcane rules where they will cover enhanced pay at full rate but not half rate (as some universities handle enhanced mat pay), or for full months but not part-months, etc. Your PI or research office really needs to talk to the funders to get the exact terms.

It should all look the same to the person taking leave, though - they continue to get paid regardless of source of funds.

to a large extent, it ought to work like maternity leave for any job. you tell your PI that you will be off, you take your leave, you come back when you are ready and the job will be waiting for you. The question of whether the maternity pay comes from the grant or from a central fund is for your PI to negotiate with the university, and shouldn't affect your take-home pay.

So the question marks are typically about - will they extend my contract? If you have a 3 year contract and take 8 months out, will you get an extra 8 months at the end? That normally depends on a lot of things, including the rest of the project, and the funder. If, for example, your project involved collecting time-critical data 1 month after your due date, then the PI would have to hire a temporary RA to replace you and then there would be no money left. But if your project is not time-critical, then the PI might be able to get a no-cost extension on the grant and keep you on for longer. But that will depend on agreement from the funders too.

The default from an HR point of view is to treat RAs as interchangeable, so when one person goes on leave, the PI hire another as a temp. If instead you are hoping for an extension on the project, ask your PI and see what might be possible.

Thank you @parietal that's very helpful. A no cost extension would be my preference but we'd have to see. As far as I can see not much of our work is on a rigid timeframe.
It feels a bit insulting to be told I'm interchangeable but probably true! There are a number of later-year PhDs in our group who might be interested in a temporary contract if it was offered, or the other RA at my Uni is only part time.