Is my employer breaking the law? Where do I stand?

[Dandylioness1]

I’m currently on maternity leave which is due to end on the 22nd February. (I’ve taken a full years mat leave)

Our holiday year runs March - Feb and I have also accrued bank holidays which means I have 29 days holiday entitlement for 2020.

Originally I was only taking 9 months maternity and two weeks holiday which would’ve left me with holiday to take when I returned to work.

I then requested to extend my maternity to the full 52 weeks (taking me to 22nd Feb) and add my holiday to the end.

At the same time I also requested flexible working and have reduced my hours to part time (24 instead of 40)

My employer contacted me yesterday advising that my flexible hours have been approved but I would need to end my maternity in January to be entitled to take my 28 days paid at my current rate of pay.

If I take them after my maternity ends then I would get paid for them on my new hours (which is a pro rata of my salary)

This doesn’t seem right to me as I’ve accrued my hours on my current contract on my current rate of pay.

Does anyone know where I stand with this?

@Lazypuppy

Or what if you asked to take your annual leave straight after the 52 weeks, then at end of that reduce your hours?

This is what I want to do, but they have said by doing this I will be paid for them on a pro rata salary.

Our company you have to use your holidays in the year they are given so jan- Dec. I have to be paid for my holidays in Dec and none can be carried over. I’m due back in February and I have got reduced hours. I think if I asked to be paid for my holidays later it’s more of an issue for payroll

@Dishwashersaurous post is correct surely.

You have accrued at full time rate. If you come back at part time you only take holiday for part time days (the new days you would be working). So it’ll take you longer to use up the holiday. So 2 instead of 1 months. Point this out to them!

It’s because at the end of 52 weeks your mat leave and and various legal protection ends.

And you are returning on a new contract.

The only other thing you can do is return on old contract take the annual leave and then immediately submit request for part time hours to start in a month .

Once your maternity year is up you are going back to work on new hours, that you requested. I think your employer is correct.

But won’t you get more weeks holiday as a result?

Ie if you took 29 days holiday straight after mat leave working with a 5 day a week contract, you would get just under 6 weeks worth of holidays paid at a higher rate; if you took 29 days straight on a three day a week contract you would get just under 10 weeks holiday, before needing to go back to work. Almost an extra month off!

In my experience, it's as Dishwashersaurus said. You have 29 days leave. On a 5-day week this will be nearly 6 weeks of leave to take. On a 3 day week, this will be nearly 10 weeks. When you return to work it will be on your new pt contact. They can't pay you to use leave on the 2 days per week that you are no longer contracted to work, but you certainly shouldn't lose the days you accrued while on mat leave on your ft contract.

I can't imagine the company would be that keen for you to take 10 working weeks as leave so surely it's in everyone's interest for you to return for a month on your ft contract then move to your new hours after that. Is your boss unwilling to do this, or could it be somewhere else in the organisation that finds it too complicated?

The normal thing to do is return on your previous contract until you've used up all your leave, and then reduce your hours - I'm nhs and that's our policy (ie if you're reducing hours then all your accrued annual leave has to be taken at the end of your mat leave before the reduction).

I took a year off and went back part time. I was given 3 options.

1. After my 52 weeks my contract remains at full time and I stay off work for 6 further weeks. Then after those 6 weeks I come back on my new part time hours.

1. Return after my 52 weeks and then my outstanding annual leave was converted to hours rather than days. So it meant I had more than 6 weeks worth of days to book off.

1. Take either of the above options in part and then take payment in lieu of holiday, eg. Take 3 weeks pay and 3 weeks of leave.

They can't take away your holiday hours, it's a legal minimum and they xant take away your right to 52 weeks leave by insisting you take leave instead. Surely that would be maternity discrimination.

I chose option 1, took my full 52 weeks maternity and then 6 weeks leave. Then started back in my part time contract.

Yes that is right.
If you don't end your mat leave early you will be paid less but have more weeks off (you only need to use 3 days holiday a week to have the full week off) but you get paid your new salary.
If you do end it earlier you will be paid your old salary for the month and use up all the holiday days.

You have accrued x number of days leave during your mat leave. If your employer puts you straight onto the new contract then you take the leave according to that but it’s still the same number of days overall.

E.g. you worked 5 days/week and have accumulated six weeks of full time leave = 30 days. You switch to working 3 days/week. You then have ten weeks of leave to use up before you return to work but it’s paid as three days per week. You still get your 30 days but you can only take (and get paid for) 3 per week.