To ask my friend to delay returning from maternity leave by 8 weeks?

[phonicspusher]

I am doing maternity cover for a very good friend of mine and she is planning to return to work when her baby is 7 months old. I was pregnant at the beginning of the job and would have been 36 weeks when she returned but I miscarried this baby (she knows this but is just about the only one that does). I am now pregnant again and will be 22 weeks when she returns. I now will not be eligible for maternity pay because I need to be working during week 29(mat pay is very good where we work - worth around four months salary - which would be brilliant as I have no work and no prospect of work after this!!) . Would it be unreasonable to ask her to consider delaying her return to work for 8 weeks so I could get this pay? Presumably it would be illegal to incentivise this in some way if the delay would leave her short of cash? And how will our friendship survive if she says no - I'm so incredibly anxious about money and devastated about the previous pregnancy not working out and I sort of expect her to understand this - I keed thinking "Well, I'd do it for her..."..And although obviously the thing is, please God, to have a healthy baby I do just think its like a kick in the teeth to have worked in this place for 10 years and be out by 8 weeks for maternity pay... grrrr/arrggh!!! WWYD?

"so she's considering going back at 7months when she gets the same pay to 9months.
and you only need her to stay off to 9mnths to get your benefits?"

the woman may have started her maternity leave 2 months before giving birth. you can start it up to 11 weeks before your due date. so even though teh baby is 7 months, teh woman may be at the end of her paid leave.

please just get some independent advice

we cannot advise you, except from the moral aspect which you seem in too much of a fix to be listening coherently to atm

The terminology is an inferred/implied permanent contract I think, this link explains what I am talking about but please post in legal/seek proper advice as I am just a recruiter - no legal quals!

YABU

phonic - I'm no expert but I'm sceptical that, after 10 years continuous employment, you have different benefits to your collegues on permanent contracts. (I worked in an organisation where continous short-term contracts were endemic). It's also not that easy to get rid of you when your contract ends, just because it ends - I am fairly sure that they have to actually make you redundant - with all the process that entails. I think you need to talk to a union and/or cab and post in employment on here to see if flowerybeanbag is around.

and shame on the those posting incredibly insensitive things about op's pregancy. shame.

I have not said anything that should offend you

I am trying to help you

I shall leave your thread now

take independent advice and good luck

phonics I'm sorry but you have no excuse after all you've worked there for 10 years and knew the system if you didn't like it you should have found another job.
You seem to be making your bad career choices your friends problem, why aren't you taking responsibility for your own choices in life?

Phonic, if you have worked got the same place for 10 years then you are an employee and they can't just terminate your contract. It would be a redundancy situation and you would be entitled to 10 years redundancy pay.

I think you need to speak to someone who is an expert in employment law as what you are saying will happen just doesn't make any sense at all.

Oh and here is a link with legal precedent but again depends on your own contracts, whether or not you're through an agency etc.

That's helpful allnightlong.

AnyFucker, sorry, I was being a bit flippant with my comments about the public sector being in a mess but I genuinely don't see how any company could operate like this. I thought part of the point of contracts was to have a fixed-price solution to an employment need and to be able to discharge your responsibilities to the employee at the end of that period. How would you ever budget effectively for contractors/short-term staff if you had to build in a huge buffer for possible occupational maternity pay as well? Would the same thing apply if this organisation operates an enhanced sickness policy?

Ilovecrisps, sorry i don't work in HR so don't have any expert knowledge about long-term contractors etc. Your situation sounds dreadful, you could try posting in employment issues, there are a couple of very knowledgeable people - Ribenaberry and Flowerybeanbag who know exactly what they are talking about!

and sympathies re the whole short-term contract situation. I had good friends go through similar and I know just how much it SUCKS to be treated this way when you work hard for an organisation. but I've also had friends who've fought for what they - and what most reasonable people imo - think is right. In this case a decent maternity package after 10 years employment is no more than you deserve. I'm angry on your behalf that your employers have put you in this situation

I think FLUFFELS makes a good point. if your friend is entitled to pay for 9 months, your not too out of line. and she can't loose her job, your legally entitled to a year off. if it was me, and you sweetened the deal with more money, I would do it.
you just have to discuss it but be clear in your head that you.will not be angry if she says no.
you should go to citizens advice cause as others have said, what your company is doing doesn't seem right. then again, if your contract ends I can see how they get away with it since your no longer an employee. pretty shitty though.
for what its worth, I don't think yabu to ask, or want to ask, but try to be level headed about it.

Jesus, only just caught up on the other posts, go easy on the OP eh? She is pregnant, has recently miscarried and is just worried about making ends meet with a newborn.

Completely unreasonable to be as aggressive and mean as some of these posts are.

allnightlong

Phonics this is not your first child, is it? Have you benefitted from this package in the past?

there are clearly people on here who have no idea what it's like to work for an organisation that treats people this way.

Thank you very much those offering employment advice, very very sweet and I appreciate it, but Anyfucker did twig correct and all NHS rules apply. Which I think means out on my ear and goodbye, do not collect £200, do not pass go.

Right, off to change my chatname and lick my wounds. I would obviously rather have a bay than all the money in the world, but it would be so so nice to be able to BF for 6 months etc etc after waiting so long for this.

"actually if the package is the same to 9mths as it is at 7 there isn't a financial implication is there."

the mum might have started her mat leave 2 months before she had her baby so could be at the end of her paid leave when her baby is 7 months.

Thank you wukter I thought it was helpful too.

"but it would be so so nice to be able to BF for 6 months etc etc after waiting so long for this."

and don't you think your friend has been looking forward to her first few months with her baby?

and I did not get this package with my first as I moved trusts and they wrote and told me I was not entitled. apparently this was wrong, but I only discovered this 5 years later and felt that to fight for it then would mean I would be less likely to get a job I was going for at the time - yes ironically this one..