Bank holidays and maternity leave when annual leave exceeds statutory entitlement

[Mummalilz]

I wondered if anyone had any guidance on bank holidays and maternity leave.

my employer is saying that they are excluded from my maternity package because they already give us extended AL over statutory.

anyone know where I can get some advice on this please ?

They have to preserve your contractual terms. So they should be paying bank holidays.

do they give you more mat leave than statutory?
Do people who are at work and not on mat leave get all the paid AL AND paid Bank holidays on top?

The reason I ask is that the NHS changed the way that leave calculation is done to make it easier to calculate across all services, both those which operate over bank holidays and those which do not. What they did was massively hike the amount of AL that people in services that close over bank hoiidays got but said that it now had to cover bank holidays too.

Yes we are paid over statutory maternity for a period of time which then drops off.

In normal circumstances we are paid for BH, Christmas closure and AL. This is written into our contracts

Not in nhs and annual leave hasn’t been adjusted - they’ve just deducted BH. Employment lawyer on their side said it’s ok but from what I’ve read online it’s not.

I think you’re right. What does Acas website say? Have you tried Pregnant Then Screwed?

Go have a look at ACAS online and see if you can find an answer there. If you're still unsure then you can phone them. They can usually answer any questions and then email advice but it's a long wait on the phone line though

I got annual leave plus bank holidays accrued , try Acas or pregnant then screwed?

You have to have the same entitlement that you would have had if you weren't on maternity leave. It doesn't matter if it's beyond statutory - if employees who aren't on maternity leave are getting it, and you would get it if you weren't having a baby, then withdrawing it from you is absolutely incontroversially discrimination against you for taking maternity leave and is illegal.

Thanks I’ll give ACAS an email because there’s an email thread

You need to join a union asap. They will have experience of dealing with this no doubt.