to think this is really not on (maternity leave)

[manicinsomniac]

Having a baby, having your full time off, coming back for a month then announcing you're 4 months pregnant and will be off again. If you knew you were pregnant (or even trying) should you really go back to work, knowing that your employer was going to have to pay two salaries for one job?

I really don't know if this is standard practice and completely ok or whether it's unfair and cheating the system. It seems unfair and a bit immoral to me.

[AScorpionPitForMimes]

I have a friend who did this - she had PCOS and it was two close together or only one. I don't have a problem with it, especially since, as mentioned many times, the government pays most of it.

[LadyWidmerpool]

Men never get grief for having children close together, why should women?

[bbcessex]

To point out again.. not all cost is paid or reclaimable from the government.

For a small company or individual employer this has a real impact.

[Growlithe]

manic surely your extra workload is not the fault of your pregnant colleague. It is the fault of your employer. Your issue should be with them, not her.

[bbcessex]

Fyi.. not against mat leave etc.. wld just like people to understand there is a significant cost to the employer that is not reclaimable!!!

[PseudoBadger]

That's not what OP said though. She was moaning about "2 salaries"

[Growlithe]

bbcessex but that is just the cost of employing someone, isn't it? When you employ someone you know it is going to cost you more than just their salary.

[maddening]

I doubt many of those returning to work already pg did so purposefully.

Also - the statutory mat pay is the same wherever you work - (as you mention mat pay in education being "quite long" ) it is for 9 months where ever you are.

I don't see why you're bitter that you only took 6 weeks though?

Anyway - yabu the woman has the same time off regardless of time between each child - if it is all done in a shorter space that could be better

[Andro]

surely your extra workload is not the fault of your pregnant colleague. It is the fault of your employer. Your issue should be with them, not her.

That depends! A specialised field of work, may make it very difficult to find a temp with the appropriate skills/training/accreditation/clearance...plus the extra work load that can arise from covering anti-natal appointments etc if work is time sensitive.

[herethereandeverywhere]

At least she went back! I know someone who worked the minimum number of weeks to get enhanced mat pay with her first baby then got pg with 2nd on the 1st mat leave and didn't go back, just took the next leave back to back. She then moved away (so no intention of ever returning to the job) and claimed enhanced mat. pay for the second mat. leave. Perfectly possible under the rules her work had but ethically very unfair. It's a good job that all working women who have kids don't do this.

In fact as I left my previous employer they were just changing the maternity policy to prevent this from happening. If you went off for your 2nd mat. leave less than 18 months after the 1st they'd only pay you statutory minimum for the second leave - effectively planning your family spacing for you! It's cases like the one above and the one highlighted by the OP which employers say are justification for dreadful erosion of maternity policy such as this.

[TheChaoGoesMu]

Dreadful behaviour. She should make a choice between having a job and having children obviously.

[luanmahi]

Plenty of people have done this where I work, mainly because the women in my department tend to be in their 30s so don't want to leave to much of an age gap as they've left it later to have children.

You have to have been employed for 6 months before you get SMP so if you've been on maternity leave, you're still classed as an employee so it doesn't affect it. Also you don't have to pay SMP back if you leave afterwards. Some companies may want you to pay any augmentation they've given you but you'd need to check their policy on that.

I don't see why it's a problem. As someone else has said, what's the difference when you have your children. If you're going to have 2 children, they'll have to arrange cover regardless of when you do it. Unless you intend to leave your job and start working for a new company in-between each child...

[bbcessex]

Grolithe... I guess for me it was a surprise.. I was also under the misconception that if a nanny went on mat leave I would only be liable for temp cover..

Put me off employing another nanny.because I just can't afford to pay two lots of hols etc. ( for temp and nanny on mat leave)

[Growlithe]

Andro it is still not the pregnant woman's fault. She does not deserve to have bitterness directed towards her for simply getting pregnant, no matter what her line of work happens to be.

It is the employer's responsibility to manage the workload of the remaining staff.

[Growlithe]

bbcessex there are lots of online calculators to work out the true cost of an employee to an employer. There are lots of hidden costs which need to be taken into consideration.

[Echocave]

It's a problem for lots of employers although women are totally within their rights to do it. My boss (a bloke) gets fed up with it as it destabilises a small team of quite highly trained people who are difficult to replace.

[Andro]

Growlithe - she may not deserve it, but she will receive it...irrespective of how good the manager is. As a manager you can set down expectations, discipline proven misconduct and organise cover as quickly as possible. What you can't do is force anyone to 'like' another person (all you can do is insist on basic standards of conduct), someone returning from mat leave pregnant will very often been seen as taking the mick and the atmosphere changes.

[NumericalMum]

lady that is an excellent point. One of the (smaller) reasons I have not had a second DC is my guilt for taking maternity leave a second time. Nobody would bat an eyelid for my DH though. Being a working mum is impossible as the world is always against you.

[TattyDevine]

Where I used to work you'd get 6 months on full pay and 3 months on statutory then 3 months no pay before you had to go back. It was easy to fall pregnant in that time and start claiming another 6 months salary without going back in between. And profit share bonus. Fab firm that was

[TattyDevine]

Oh and then you cash in the holiday pay at the end, 10 weeks worth, ca-ching!

[Alamaya]

this makes me laugh. I went back to work 10 weeks pregnant. A complete suprise after needing ivf for the first.

In response to we shouldnt come back. um heeelllo when you go on maternity you sign to say you will come back. If you dont you pay back any maternity pay you have been given.

I felt guilty enough as it was and it certainly wasnt planned. Luckily my colleagues were supportive!!!!!

[breatheslowly]

A lot of companies have enhanced maternity pay policies which are linked to returning to the job and staying in the job. This makes lots of sense. I had to repay a "return to work bonus" when I left my previous job as I left within a year of returning to work.

[Joiningthegang]

Yabu - i hadnt planned to be pregnant when returning to work after a year of with ds2 - but i am still there years later and work. Really hard.
I did feel a bit bad telling my boss but he was lovely x

[CruCru]

A few people have mentioned that if you don't go back after maternity leave, you have to pay back the enhanced maternity pay (for some companies). How is this enforced? If someone isn't back at work then it's quite hard to take money off them. Sounds like an HR nightmare.

[FantasticMax]

Hmmm... I know women are perfectly within their rights to do this but it doesn't sit right with me. Where a pregnancy is unplanned or you're in your late 30s and you want to get cracking, fair enough I suppose, but to actively TTC to work the system I don't agree with. As pointed out above, there are more costs involved to a company than simply SMP.

But I had an enhanced maternity package so maybe I feel a bit more loyal to my employer? I don't know. I'm undecided about trying for baby no.2 but if I do I would certainly wait a while between mat leaves, at least a couple of years.