Anyone savvy with annual leave/maternity leave ?

[lottie198]

I'm soo confused about returning to work and I feel like my manager hasn't got a clue either. I'm returning on a 19 hour contract, I used to be full time.
She said because I'm doing less hours I have less annual leave to use so my return date is sooner than anticipated, yet she hasn't told me when.
But my understanding is that I get the same amount of annual leave as in same amount of weeks ? Obviously I would get less pay because I wouldn't need to take 37.5 hours annual leave for a week off id just need the 19 hours.

I'm just so confused by it all and she's not much help.

You will have accrued annual leave throughout your maternity leave, this would be at your previous full entitlement, this can be taken before you return to work from maternity leave. From the date you return to work your annual leave entitlement should be calculated on the hours / days worked per week. If you have reduced your days and hours worked per week, you will receive a pro-rata annual leave entitlement which is calculated from the days and hours worked per week, which will be less than your previous entitlement. I hope this helps. There is an annual leave calculator on the government website which is useful, you and your manager can use this.

Thank you , that's what I thought .
So I was on maternity from December 2021- December 2022. I have lots of annual leave to use which takes me to a return date of Feb 2023. My manager is saying my annual leave entitlement from December -March 2023 is different and is calculated on my new Hourrs.

So should my new annual leave be Calculated from my return date after my annual leave or the end of my maternity leave ?

She's wrong. You will have accrued annual leave at your previous rate. When you return, you'll only use your annual leave at 19 hrs per week. That means that each week you accrued during maternity leave is worth almost 2 weeks of annual leave at your new rate.

If you talk to your manager/HR, the most sensible thing for them to do is to allow you to extend your maternity leave by x weeks at full time rate before returning. Or, to allow you to return at 19 hours but be paid full time for 14 weeks ish. Otherwise, you'll have potentially 14 weeks of leave to take because you accrued at double the rate that you'll now spend.

The last bit she said is right. If your return date is Jan 2022, all leave from then on will be accrued at 19 hours. But the leave you take is also only at 19 hours.

Essentially, they can't have it both ways. You are either returning full time while you use the annual leave, so being paid full time, or you are returning at 19 hours, only getting 19 hours per week of annual leave, but also only deducting 19 hours from your remaining leave.

What they can't do is say that you're using 37½ hours of leave each week that you're off, but only accruing at the 19 hours rate.

That's what I thought! So that's why she's confused me saying I've now got to return earlier than they thought. I think I'll contact HR to work it out. I'll attach the email she sent me, I can't make sense of it . She's changed my start date about 3 times.

The other part is about my pay because I wasn't paid this month because payroll didn't receive the form for amendment of contract.

She's right, your annual leave has reduced. But your requirement for annual leave has also reduced. At your new rate of work, 19 hours per week, your 379.58 hours will last 19.97 weeks.

Managers often don't understand the rules. I took a leave of absence and on return on reduced hours, my manager tried to tell me that my leave had 'gone'. I said 'I don't think so...' and said I'd contact HR. She then contacted HR who said that 'of course my leave was preserved'.