Working while on maternity leave?

[lsjdkviwworin]

Posting here for traffic but just generally asking for advice/words of wisdom if anyone has dealt with the same.

Lady in my team is on maternity leave (let's call her Joan) only since end Nov and had the baby mid Dec. There is another lady on secondment covering her maternity leave (I'll call her Dorris)

Dorris is settling in and cracking on with no problems. Joan has been checking emails and sending teams messages over the last week.

As far as I'm concerned (team leader, need to talk to a management about this) Joan shouldn't be doing this as it feels meddling, undermines Dorris and is confusing for customers but appreciate this needs to be handled carefully.

For context, big corporate office. Never come across this before. Usually maternity leave means maternity leave with the odd keep in touch day. My manager will speak to HR for their view about this but I want to just make sure I'm raising this in the right way with her first.

Happy to be corrected if still working ad hoc throughout maternity leave is a thing!

Yeah she shouldn’t be working. Massively undermines Dorris. Also I think there are legal HR issues as she can’t be claiming mat pay if she’s working, or something along those lines. I think it’s a big no-no. Definitely bring it up!

I sort of agree with you, but remote working has blurred things.

In theory Joan should be completely logged off and 'enjoying her maternity leave' . But maybe she's not enjoying it, finding it hard and struggling so doing some work gives her a feeling of normality? I have no idea how to tackle it though as it must be pretty annoying for Doris.

If she works during maternity leave it could end her entitlement to SMP or maternity allowance. I think the rule is a maximum of 10 keep in touch days.

You might like to remind her of kit days and perhaps restrict her access otherwise. It is fair enough to use email to communicate but not actively work. Is she being cc in to work emails still?

She shouldn’t be logged on at all, so yes you’re right in raising this

Agree that it might impact her SMP, and also depending on your line of work there might be insurance issues - eg. I'm a lawyer and if I gave out advice while not actually contracted to work I doubt our insurance policy would cover our work.

A guy in a previous team has done this while on shared parental leave and it's confusing for both colleagues and clients.

If Joan is missing work perhaps you should talk to her about organising a formal KIT day or two?

Thanks all. Just wanted to make sure I'm not making a mountain out of a molehill.