External examining and maternity leave

[isitlunchtimeyet89]

I’m currently pregnant and (all going well) will be due to go on maternity leave mid April. I am an external examiner for 2 universities - for uni 1 it is my last year and I would have been stepping down at the end of the year anyway. For uni 2 it is more awkward as I started the role in September and haven’t actually performed any external examiner duties yet.

In principle, I could continue these roles as I likely would be able to out aside a few days over the summer to look at the exam scripts, and then as needed throughout the year. However I’m guessing that might impact my maternity leave from my main employer?

My question is, how late is acceptable to tell them to allow them time to find maternity leave cover and will uni 2 let me return to the role after my 1 year of maternity leave?

I ask because unfortunately I have been through recurrent miscarriages and I’m a bit reluctant to tell them before 20 weeks incase the same thing happens again. I also really don’t want to burn bridges with uni 2 in particular as it’s a department I want to build a lasting relationship with (and could even see myself working in one day).

Any advice?

I still did my external examining during my maternity leave, but I only took 6 months mat leave and was back at work before they paid me in August.

I also only had one role, and they were very relaxed about me not attending exam boards (even though they’re online now).

You’re right that you should avoid getting paid by them during your maternity leave. It would be OK to have a frank conversation about what you’re capable of doing for them with that taken into account.

How much mat leave are you taking?

I would discuss it with them as soon as you feel comfortable doing so, so that they can make alternative arrangements if necessary.

If you’re happy to do the work, see if they can avoid paying you until you’re back from mat leave.

If that’s not possible, with the one you started recently, perhaps suggest a postponement until academic year beginning 2027? Or just being happy to step down? With that and the one you’re already in, just ask them what they’d like
yo do I guess, based on your plans.

edited cos I forgot crucial details in the OP during my first reply, then for typos

Thanks for getting back to me. Yes, I’m just worried that if they pay me it might impact my maternity pay/ I might be asked to pay some of my maternity pay back, which is obviously not worth the risk.

I would like to take a full year of maternity leave as this will be my last child, so I won’t be back until the following April.

This happened with my programme the other year. We weren't allowed to get a new external for only one year to cover a mat leave. I'm not sure what arrangements were made but I was 'lent' an external from another programme in our discipline for the year.
In my role as an external I was ill for 6 months and the uni expected me to carry on as though I wasn't off ill. Including attending an exam board from my hospital bed.
It's one of those situations that doesn't seem to have been thought about, almost as the external won't ever have a baby or illness etc etc. There needs to be some contingency built into university QA processes.

Please tell them by February at least, a lot of the EE stuff will be done in May/June and it'll be hard for them to find a replacement at short notice. We once had an EE in position ready to start in September for the new academic year and then 20th Sept informed us out of the blue that she was going on maternity leave effective immediately. It was a real scramble to try to find someone else.