Colleague working on maternity leave

[samanth1989]

I am on maternity leave as is my colleague, we work for an insurance company. I've noticed that my colleague is often carrying out work duties, answering emails, sitting in on calls etc. Before anyone asks, this is outside the standard KIT days that everyone is entitled to. AIBU to fell annoyed at this as it sets a president and expectation for other members of the team who are currently on mat leave (now and in the future).

For context, my colleague is known to be very ambitious and competitive so I am assuming she is doing this to get ahead.

AIBU?

Maternity leave and pay should stop if she's done more than her 10 KIT days

I don't think it will set a precedent as no reasonable company would expect someone to work on mat leave.

This isn't about going back to work early, she's working on mat leave so no extra pay

"Never said they cant

I disagree with the assertion made that this other lady couldn’t have had her baby yet because otherwise how could she be working.

I don’t know many if any women who were so exhausted even a month after birth they’d not be able to work, they chose not to of course, but it wasn’t a case of ‘can’t’"

You are drawing on your own experiences. Maybe the poster you are referring to was drawing on theirs.

I worked whilst on maternity leave. There was a massive, industry wide, very high profile issue that they really needed my input on. I was happy to get involved, it was interesting work, I felt valued and got a massive promotion on my return. It was well worth me being seen to be willing to provide my expertise and I enjoyed doing it.

If she’s working for Mat pay she’s 1) a fool, and 2) breaking the law. SMP is supposed to stop when the KIT days are used up.

My mat leave replacement left after I was gone for 8 months. They asked me to come back early to focus on one thing only, so I did, but it was on a very flexible basis in that I could work whatever times I wanted as long as my work was done. It actually worked out very well for me as I was able to use my KIT days to top up the last month of SMP, but then earn money while working from home for the next 3 months. I probably would have had to return to the office earlier if I hadn’t gone back part time when they asked me.

her mat leave is zero to do with you. Whether she’s legally doing something wrong or trying to “get ahead”

you nothing about the circumstances that lead her to be involved, but I find it comical that you’re saying this while on mat leave yourself and clearly involved enough to notice this going on.

enjoy your mat leave, I wouldn’t be giving any fucks about it when I was on leave! (I currently am on mat leave and the office is at the moment a world I don’t want to or need to be involved with right now.

None of your business. And it wont set a precedent, it's an insurance company not a 10 man band, they will have multiple people going on mat leave and are very unlikely to expect anyone to work through it 'because Jane did'

I'm also on mat leave and wouldn't be able to tell you want any of my colleagues are currently doing, whether they are on mat leave or otherwise.

Concentrate on enjoying your mat leave, you will regret if you spend time checking your work emails and worrying about what everyone else is doing