Annual leave whilst on mat leave

[freddiefrankie]

I've returned to work and got my annual leave allocation for this year ( jan - dec ) but manager has indicated the annual leave i accrued when I was off may be gone ? She said I should have taken it one month before I came back ?! But I've asked for it in payment in an email as I'm only part time and it's a lot of hours to use up! So I don't think they would allow me the time off anyway

I'm part time 22.5 hours and I was off for almost a year (11.5 months ) I only got smp and unpaid for 3 months

What are my rights to this leave that I have accrued whilst being off ?

Thanks for reading

You should absolutely be allowed to take it in addition to your maternity leave. Contact ACAS or pregnant then screwed!

You cannot use annual leave while you are on maternity leave, it has to be at some time when you have returned to work! They don't have to let you take it exactly when you want to, but they do have to let you take it.

Here's a link which says so, there will be others as pp has said https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/maternity-and-parental-rights/check-your-maternity-and-parental-rights/rights-while-pregnant-or-on-maternity-leave/rights-while-youre-on-maternity-leave/

I'm
Happy to take it but it has worked out to be a lot of hours so I know they would be able to let me have so much leave which is why I've asked for it in payment

It's not down to foul play, it's just a small organisation with no HR and to be honest they don't really have a clue! They've been going 5 years ( 5 of us in the office ) and I'm the first to have a baby so it's just stuff they don't know so hopefully it will be sorted but I wanted to be prepared with the info

Thank you

Effectively you're asking to take it a month before you actually returned to work - so they will need to pay you as if you returned a month (or whatever) earlier.

@titchy but I've already returned 😕

Well yes but if you want to get paid you'll have to tell them that you actually returned on say 1 May, and took the first month as your accrued annual leave and returned to the office on say 1 June, and therefore the period 1 May to 1 June was your paid annual leave and you want paying for it.

You might not be able to take it as payment now (you would normally have had to give them 8 weeks notice before you want to return if you were to return from maternity leave early), but you still shouldn't lose it, if you can't take it in this leave year you should be able to carry it over to next leave year.

They've already ran payroll so they won't do that unfortunately

That's what I was thinking too
I think maybe they will say carry it over because then it's another year

Oh well nevermind didn't even realise I could return early and get paid my leave - what a shame 😕

They can redo the payroll - companies do that all the time. Ask them how they intend to make sure you haven't been discriminated against or had your pay withheld.