To think it's quite common to do this and it's not unreasonable?

[YuHu]

To go on maternity leave (and take the full amount) knowing full well you won't be going back without telling work until you have to give notice before you're supposed to be returning?

This is what I am doing at the moment, mid way through my maternity leave and I do not intend to return but won't be informing work until I legally have to.

My main reason for this is to safeguard myself in case the situation changes, I think it's far more sensible, even if you think you won't be returning, to not actually make it known until the end.

@honeylulu

Sensible to keep options open I suppose and to be honest if you have anything other than a very short maternity leave your employer has to cope while you're gone as if you're "gone gone" anyway so it should have no seismic impact if you don't return.

In the flip side I planned to take short maternity leaves (the second time my husband was taking over the parental leave at 20 weeks) and told my employers of my plans. I didn't have to, they couldn't and didn't ask, and I could have still changed my mind, but were incredibly relieved and grateful because it was just about possible to cover my client accounts/cases (senior solicitor) for 4 months. If I'd been gone 9 months or a year they would have had to recruit someone new and permanent (temporary cover had not been reliable or good quality in the past) at great expense. Plus I would have had pretty much nothing to do on my return and I'd have hated that.

They know that I intend to take the full year maternity. I discussed that with them when I left so they knew my plan for maternity leave. They just don't know that I hope to be able to not return at the end of it. And the reason they don't know that is because lots of things can change in the space of a year, as we should all know after the last one, so why would I potentially shoot myself in the foot before I have to?

I'd be giving them notice as per my contract should things go to plan like any other employee. I've not yet seen anyone explain why it's apparently only women on mat leave who should be nice and give a year's worth of notice and potentially put themselves in the shit should things go wrong?

@Donoteatthekittens

I have to return to work for at least a month or pay my enhanced maternity pay back. I’m in the civil service. But DH is military and could be moved and we would go with him. In that case, I would have to take unpaid leave or look for another civil service job internally if we moved.

I really have to keep my options open! I’m intending to return to my job but I can’t guarantee it.

Similar - I'm NHS. I have to return for at least 3 months or I have to pay it all back.

I was agreeing with you OP, sorry if that wasn't clear.

I probably caused a distraction talking about the "other side" as I experienced it because I DIDN'T want my employer to assume I'd be gone a year/not returning and give all my best cases to someone else!

Yeah ok - I see you don’t get anything over SMP and I am glad.

I just wish you, and others on the thread saw the damage you do. Years ago I worked somewhere and they hadn’t had anyone go on maternity leave (and there were a few hundred employees) for 5 years or more. Within weeks of being there I noticed the demographic of employees were mainly much younger women or men, unlike myself who was a bit older and just got into a serious relationship. I got a number of sidelong questions about my family plans and remember saying something about in due course - how honest of me.... and next thing I know I was sidelined out the business. Less than 2 years service. No recourse. Can’t prove it. I was pretty angry at the time but now I run I own business (and I am pregnant) I do understand. Women’s rights are hard earned and no wonder people feel free to ignore them if this is the standard of behaviour.

@GordonsAliveAndEatsPies

Yeah ok - I see you don’t get anything over SMP and I am glad.

I just wish you, and others on the thread saw the damage you do. Years ago I worked somewhere and they hadn’t had anyone go on maternity leave (and there were a few hundred employees) for 5 years or more. Within weeks of being there I noticed the demographic of employees were mainly much younger women or men, unlike myself who was a bit older and just got into a serious relationship. I got a number of sidelong questions about my family plans and remember saying something about in due course - how honest of me.... and next thing I know I was sidelined out the business. Less than 2 years service. No recourse. Can’t prove it. I was pretty angry at the time but now I run I own business (and I am pregnant) I do understand. Women’s rights are hard earned and no wonder people feel free to ignore them if this is the standard of behaviour.

But this is nonsensical imo. I am well within my right, as any other employee, to give notice as per my contract. If my employer would like a years worth of notice, then it should be in my employment contract. Do you think they'd give me a year's worth of notice if they were discussing redundancies? I doubt it.

This is the problem, the fact that women blame other women for discrimination in the work place when they are acting perfectly within their contracted employment.

How about blaming the workplaces that are actually doing the discriminating instead?

I'd argue that no wonder people ignore women's rights when it's so easy to get other women to turn on each other for doing something sensible i.e. not informing their work a year in advance that you might leave when you've no idea what that year may actually involve or where you'll be at the end of it.

Why is it more reasonable to expect women to put themselves in that position so that they don't make discrimination worse for other women (which I don't actually believe it does), than it is to just expect workplaces not to discriminate in the first placd?

@honeylulu

I was agreeing with you OP, sorry if that wasn't clear.

I probably caused a distraction talking about the "other side" as I experienced it because I DIDN'T want my employer to assume I'd be gone a year/not returning and give all my best cases to someone else!

Sorry, I see that now.

I was just saying that they do know I intend to be out for the year, I've not just gone on maternity and said I might be back after 3 months or it might be a year, they know that I intend to be gone for the full time.

I love how women turn on other women so easily. 🙄

I used to work in HR. I always, always told women to keep their options open. If they said/implied they had no intention of returning before they went on maternity leave I suggested to them that I had not heard that.

You would be surprised at how many people changed their mind about whether or not to return. Or their situations change.

Seriously, why burn your bridges. You have a legal right to return to your role - for your job to be kept open for you. Keep that option open as long as you can - and just let your employer know as and when you HAVE to.

This is not about maternity pay/accruing holiday pay (although an added bonus). But about options.

It’s the underhanded nature of it though, and therefore I don’t blame businesses for wanting to protect themselves. It’s not just the maternity pay, but recruitment, future planning out the window and everything else. If you were that sure of your position you would be honest. You aren’t being honest. You can’t have it both ways. Don’t discriminate, don’t assume I might just totally go back on what I said I would do (you are on leave, not notice), don’t just pay me the minimum, and don’t think if the business and all the other employees either (especially in small businesses where margins on everything count for everything).

Would feel the same way if it was a man.

As long as you give them plenty of notice. A woman at work did this but with only a days notice. So we had let go the person who was maternity cover who really needed the job. Then we went on lockdown so she could of been on furlough it felt very unfair on her.

I honestly think this is a bit shit. Colleagues have to cover for mat leave, which is fine, but if you didn’t intend to come back they could look to get a permanent replacement and save teammates having to work extra hours to cover. I personally would always want to be honest upfront

Colleagues only have to cover for mat leave if your employer decides that colleagues should cover for mat leave. There is nothing stopping them hiring temporary cover or not requiring other people to work longer hours. This is a clear example of the fact that your employer has no loyalty to you.

Women’s rights are hard earned

And what an utterly fruitless exercise it's all been if women are still too scared to actually use them through fear of still being discriminated against if they do can you not see how ridiculous that is? Yes women's rights are hard earned... So bloody well USE THEM and quit with this whole 'do the right thing, be nice, think about everyone else but yourself and your own family first' expectation that we only ever seem to put on women.

Would feel the same way if it was a man

Well isn't it just very fortunate that men often never have to think about this kind of thing. Funny that. It's very easy to say men would be treated or thought of the same way when men are rarely ever actually in this position.

Check your contract. If I didn't return to work for a minimum period after my maternity leave, I would have had to have payed it back (minus STP).

I'd assumed that's what most people did

Women’s rights are hard earned and no wonder people feel free to ignore them if this is the standard of behaviour.

Hard earned rights but god forbid we use them, eh? With women saying stuff like this who needs sexist men?! How disappointing some posts have been.

OP, I'm not sure if anyone has asked but have you checked your contract?

Cancel the cheque all over again!

I took redundancy at the end of mat leave, it means I had enhanced mat leave, smp and then my annual leave and redundancy pay

OP, seeing as you don't have to pay any MP back (see I read the thread ) , you can resign when you want to.

Your rights are protected, and one of those rights is your job being kept open for you. If you are then unable to return to work, then you give notice when it is due near the end of your ML.

Don't forget that you accrue holiday pay while on ML as well.

An awful lot of things could happen, especially in the current climate, so use your rights and give notice at the time when you need to.

You are not doing anything wrong.

A lot of places recruit temporary maternity cover, and then the temp gets the job if the mother does not return from ML.

People’s circumstances change, people get new jobs, people get ill. These are part of life and things people that employ people are aware of, people are being ridiculous. A job is that, a job. You are always replaceable at work.

Should have said that while it was a good idea at the time, I wish I hadn’t taken redundancy - I’d rather be in employment now!

We should have the right to maternity leave - and be paid more than SMP. I am just saying we can’t have it both ways. If we are dishonest and underhanded is a way that could effect a business, we can’t be surprised that the business looks to protect itself as well.

@GordonsAliveAndEatsPies

We should have the right to maternity leave - and be paid more than SMP. I am just saying we can’t have it both ways. If we are dishonest and underhanded is a way that could effect a business, we can’t be surprised that the business looks to protect itself as well.

What is dishonest and underhanded about giving the contracted notice period in a job?

If a man wants to leave his job, interviews for some and only hands his notice in when he has a contract for his new job - fulfilling the obligation in his current contract, would you call him dishonest and underhanded?

Women do not owe more to companies than men do. Where all parties have signed contracts with clear terms, as long as those terms are adhered to its ridiculous to call the employee dishonest and underhanded surely?

YANBU - I'm going on maternity leave and work specifically told me if I wasn't planning on coming back I would have to give notice a month before the end of mat leave. It's expected.

If we are dishonest and underhanded

What are you basing this on though?

I'm assuming you have probably joined and left jobs in the past. So when you have started considering looking for a new job and checking job sites on your laptop, sending your CV out and discussing going to interviews do you immediately run and tell your existing boss? Would you consider yourself underhanded and dishonest if you didn't immediately tell them that you were thinking of maybe leaving? Or would you do the normal thing and wait until you get a new job and you're actually in a position to leave before informing them in case it didn't materialise and you were left with no job at all? How is it any different?

In what other situation would you ever expect an employee to put themselves in a potentially damaging situation like this?