Maternity Pay and obligations after

[Piffyonarockbun]

I am currently 20 weeks pregnant and am in an office job for now. My normal role is confrontational hence my office role. The HR here isnt very good. I intend taking my maternity leave and with savings i should be able to have 8-9 months off. I know that on my return to work I am required to do my original role for 6 months otherwise I pay back my maternity money.

I am no longer mentally or physically up to doing my old job. There are also changes coming which may render my job unbearable by the time I return. I was thinking of finding a new job before I fell pregnant. I have worked for my employer for more than a decade and I have not needed maternity leave before (2 MMC).

I was wondering about the 6 months return. What would happen if i got pregnant again within my maternity leave or soon after? Would I still get full maternity pay a second time? Also does sick leave count towards the 6 months I have to serve after my maternity leave? I obviously dont want to go sick but it is a consideration as I dont know how having a baby will effect pre existing spinal problems. Also if I go back part time is it still 6 months i have to work or does it get extended because im part time?

I would appreciate any help, I am quite happy to get another job and i do intend to. I want to work I will just struggle to do my old job. Please be gentle. I know I must sound lazy or workshy but im not. Iv sustained serious physical and psychological damage doing a job i loved for 12 years but i feel so very weak and lost at the moment.

I know that on my return to work I am required to do my original role for 6 months otherwise I pay back my maternity money.
Not true.

Your Maternity pay is yours.
IF your employer tops up the maternity pay to full salary then that money can be recouped but only that part of it.

If you get pregnant back to back you get another batch of Mat Pay
and remember the government is paying you that, not your employer.

is your maternity pay getting topped up because if not you don't need to pay anything back. I got basic maternity pay and resigned at the end of my maternity leave and didnt owe work a penny.

Yes my maternity pay gets topped up by my employer for the first 18 weeks. Then I go onto SMP. I have savings to cover the shortfall once i go onto SMP.

Sorry, all this is new to me and our HR arent very helpful so im trying to figure it out on my own. Colleagues have helped me this far but I dont want them to know im struggling with the thought of coming back.

SMP is yours. It cannot be reclaimed for any reason.

Additional company maternity pay is a matter between employer and employee. So whether time on second maternity leave, or sick pay, or the circumstances in which a change of role after leave is permitted are all questions for the policy. What I would say, however, is that they need to be very clear and upfront about certain things not counting towards the six months (i.e. if it came to a dispute, you basically get the benefit of the doubt on any vagueness in the policy).

If you go back to work but are effectively on sick pay, this counts as being back at work. As does being on annual leave (remember you continue to accrue leave, and bank hols depending on your contract).

And 6 months is 6 months whether you work full time or an hour per week.

As always with employment questions, your organisational policies and your contract will give you further info. We can't advise you on those sorts of specifics, only "the norm" and the legal stuff.

In relation to the additional maternity pay, companies can make up their own rules around it as there is no legal obligation to pay it (as opposed to the statutory element).

As the rules vary from company to company, your hr department will need to clarify.

If it is only SMP then you don't need to worry nothing would be repayable regardless. If the company pay enhanced terms and put conditions on up front ie 6 months' work on return then the additional amount may be subject to this. How they apply the terms is really up to them and you need to ask for the policy. I would have thought 6 months means 6 months of not being on ML and "back at work" so could include sick leave. You can follow one ml with another but the qualifying week for SMP will not reflect your normal salary but whatever payments you are receiving at that time and probably not any enhanced payments, again you need to read the policy.

Do you have company intranet as the policies might be published on there?

Thank you for all the help. Youve given me the confidence to pressure HR for proper information. I have checked the policies and all it covers really is when to tell them i want maternity and when to tell them in coming back!! Im going to speak to HR and ask for all the information to be explained.
I feel a bit better now. Thank you

If you really want to leave your options open, be willing to just accept the SMP when you are off, without the topup to full pay.
THen if you decide to walk there is nothing at all they can do