To be annoyed colleague is taking two months off?

[galleo]

My colleague (and friend) is expecting. She is going to take July-January as mat leave, then she is taking July-August next year off as split mat leave.

Our team is very thinly staffed and manager isn’t getting someone to cover maternity. That’s fine we will manage. However, it does mean that there’s not enough staff to cover holidays. So we are being discouraged from taking more than a week at a time off during the time my colleague is away. We are very busy in the summer months so only one member of the team can be off during the school holidays - but as colleague is taking the split mat leave in July August, that means for next summer holidays, I can’t take a single week off to spend time with my kids!

How is it selfish to take what she is entitled to?

You can take up to 12 months (and this can be split with another parent). You are also still entitled to annual leave which most people take at the start or end of their maternity leave.

Almost everyone who has gone on mat leave at my company has been off for a year or a bit over.

It is not the fault of the person taking the time they are entitled to. It is an issue with the company/manager. 🙄

At the next team meeting, ‘manager, we need to talk about next summer. You need cover for <mat leave colleague> because frankly I’m not working anywhere that says there are no summer holidays at all permitted. I’m happy to put in my request now but I will absolutely be taking some time with my kids and I expect most people feel similarly.’
i am firmly team colleague, and also none of the rest of you should accept this frankly ridiculous plan. I’d escalate to hr or managers boss and start job hunting as back up. Easy to get another job by next summer.

Be annoyed at your manager not your colleague. You manager isn't covering the maternity leave and their return to work. Your colleague is entitled to take what she feels she wants or is entitled to.

There is over over a year to get it sorted. You're colleague might end up not even coming back.

YABVU to be annoyed at your colleague.

YANBU to be annoyed at your manager who’s responsible for sorting out her maternity cover.

She is entitled to take that time off.

Totally on your organisation, not your colleague. I do anything I have to in order to spend time with my children in the summer holidays (or any holiday) and that will always come first within the rules. Tough but true and the only way I can survive with minimal other support.

Manager has a whole year to find cover. They are the unreasonable one here.

Don’t be annoyed at your colleague on mat leave, be annoyed at your manager for not making sure there is cover.

So you think its "fine" for your manager to not arrange cover therefore leaving you extremely understaffed as you will manage...but its not fine and you have a problem with your colleague and "FRIEND" taking the maternity she is completely entitled to take.

Agree with everyone else

It's not your colleague's fault - not only is she entitled to take advantage of split maternity if your company offers it, even if she'd just taken a straight 12 month maternity she would still have been away for one full summer anyway. I dont understand why the rule doesn't seem to apply (or youre not bothered) for this summer, only for next year?

its your companies fault for
a) not getting cover for her
b) treating her maternity like annual leave (so the policy of only 1 person being on leave at a time applies) rather than a completely different circumstance.

Lots of places have restrictions on how many people can take leave at the same time, but good organisations put practices in place so that it is granted fairly- i.e everyone gets 1 week during the summer. Saying nobody can take any leave all summer is not a solution.

Also if you are only being "discouraged" from taking more than a week then just do it anyway.
If your manager will just be a but annoyed but can't actually refuse the leave then who cares?
If they've actually said they will refuse any of your team any leave at all for the 2 months of the summer holidays then get the union involved or all meet together and say this is completely unfair.

But either way it's an organisation problem not an individual (your colleague) one

She's not necessarily entilted to take July-August next year. If that period is covered by her annual leave then her employer could have denied it, and insisted it was taken during the Jan-Jul period when she will be working, or later in the year.

I mean moot point now as it's clearly been agreed and the issue solely rests with the employer now, but prior to this there was no legal requirement for the employer to agree with Jul-Aug off if that was covered with the years annual leave.

Why isn’t manager getting cover? If they have been turned down by company/organisation for cover you need to speak to manager about how it impacts you and look at escalating higher/hr (we have to do a business case for cover it’s not automatic they will fund two people in one post one on maternity and cover - part of business case is impact on staff, clients etc)

As everyone else has said, this is a manager problem, not a colleague problem

If it is Shared Parental Leave, this should be taken in the 52 weeks following the baby's birth. So if she's going on Maternity Leave in July, the likelihood is that period for using any shared parental leave finishes in July 2026. Taking July and August 2026 is not likely therefore to be covered by the statutory ShPL period, so potentially she's taking accrued annual leave?

If annual leave, surely the same rules apply to her as everyone else. Annual leave dates are discretionary.

i would object to calling the post selfish and stupid - one persons actions mean that others are much more restrictied ( isn’t that a definition of selfish ?) and it’s easy to blame the direct cause when you ard upset

I would expect grown ups to place the blame where it actually belongs - on the employer/management - and not lash out at people exercising their employment rights. It's not "easy to blame the direct cause when you are upset" because that is what two year olds do. And the colleague is not the direct cause anyway - the employer/management are.

As all have said, it’s your employer that’s the issue!

You think you are her 'friend'?

Not with that attitude.

It is not her issue, it is your manager's responsibility to make sure there is cover in place while she is on maternity leave/holiday.

I have no idea why you think your misplaced resentment towards your colleague is appropriate...

I was this person on maternity leave. You shouldn't be blaming her, it's not her fault. My team were told similar and they were pissed. I told our manager in a meeting that it was her responsibility to get agency staff to cover, so the tems annual leavewoyldnt be affected. She checked with HR and they agreed this was a good plan.

You’re aiming your annoyance at the wrong person.

You’re entitled to A/L. Your manager needs to sort that shit out.

I out of date on maternity leave legislation, but presumably the august is accrued annual leave as it is more than a year after she goes on maternity leave. Surely she doesn’t get priority ever when she takes accrued annual leave.

The issue is your employer, not your friend. They need to arrange cover. Not just for cover over the holidays, they need to have resilience for illness or work emergencies.

I would look for alternative employment.

Not your colleagues fault, it's between you and your manager.

This is annoying, but it on your employer not your colleague. She would have been completely within her rights to be off for much longer than she is and it would be again your employers responsibility to cover. If they are not allowing you all to take leave in a reasonable way talk to HR or your employer. They will be being refunded quite a bit of her mat leave pay, so should get cover.

I'm expecting to see soon a post saying "my colleague has stage 4 cancer and I'm so annoyed her treatment is leaving us with more work and less choice of annual leave"