holidays while on mat leave

[user1467367892]

HI Everyone,

Need some help/advise with a few things. Im going on my maternity on the 10th october with a week holiday the week before (3rd) .

We have always had to save X amount of holidays for the christmas period and my employer is telling me this year 4 days is needed to be saved and the same rules still apply to me. but how when I will be on maternity leave? surely they would be paying me maternity in Dec regardless. I want to take all my holidays before I leave as my holiday start jan-jan. How can they make me save 4 days still for christmas when I will be on mat?

Due to there been some bank holidays in 2017 before I return to work ( july 2017) we normally get the bank holidays off with pay, would I get my normal rate pay for those or maternity pay still? or can I have these as extra holidays and add them on to my holiday entitlement?

Thanks :) xx

Sounds very odd to me but am not an expert. Think you'll need to talk to HR.

There is a lot of information about maternity leave here that might help: www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/overview

My maternity leave covers Christmas so I didn't have to book it off as holiday. However, this might vary per company.

When I went on mat leave I got to take all my holidays for the year I started mat leave in, and got paid for upcoming bank holidays also. I didn't get the following years bank holidays that would happen whilst I was off until I was due back (I decided not to return so got paid them in a final pay). These should be at your full rate, not mat pay rate.

In regards to saving holidays for Christmas, it doesn't sound right, but worst case you get paid for them in Dec/Jan? Might be worth the boost in wages!

I'm just back from maternity leave. I got all of my annual leave, plus bank holidays added on. Companies sometimes make you take it in the correct leave year (mine doesn't) but I don't think they can make you take leave for Christmas when you are on maternity.

can I have these as extra holidays and add them on to my holiday entitlement

Yes for the bank holidays. They don't have to carry them over though so you might need to use them at the end of your leave or before it starts.

I don't know about the mandatory use for Christmas. My company does that for regular staff but I wasn't off over Christmas when I had mat leave.

Thanks everyone I looked on acas this morning and they stated holiday pay and mat pay cant be taken at the same its one or the other. This is my first baby so im confused about everything, plus im the only female in work and have been for the past 7 years so my boss is clueless on everything with mat. I just dont want him thinking he can pull my leg.

I think my best bet is to ring acas and see whats what. surely they cant make me save 4 days for christmas when I wont be even here or even rteturning until July.

As for bank holidays if i was to just leave them as they was for 2017 I should get full pay for that particular B.H xx

they are saying i get mat pay wage for the holidays at christmas too that i suppose to have to save so not even full pay
lol!

I depends. If you work somewhere where it closes between xmas and new year, and contractually you must use some of your leave allocation for this then if you are on mat leave during that period, your holiday entitlement is reduced by the number of days taken for the compulsory closure, regardless of whether you are in work or on mat leave. So if your annual entitlement to leave is 24 days but everyone in your company must keep 4 days for compulsory closure then you can accrue up to 20 days leave whilst on mat leave to take at the end/ beginning.

You can't take annual leave and mat leave at the same time so I think your manager is wrong and you can use all your holiday before you go.
I think the bank holiday pay depends on the company.
I would definitely have a conversation with your HR to clarify matters independently of your manager

Bit late to the reply on this one so you might already have the answers from ACAS but I'm pregnant & work in HR, pretty handy :-)

So, you can't be on maternity leave & take holiday so saving days for Xmas is pointless for you. Those 4 days over Xmas will be paid as maternity.

Companies usually ask you to take all accrued holiday before you start maternity leave and anything you don't take is added on when you come back.

If you usually get BH days additional to your holiday then any BH that fall whilst you're on maternity you'll get to take as holiday days on your return. It's usually 8 days accrued on a full year off. Your employer may choose to pay them out to you instead of taking them by either way you won't lose out.

Hope that helps

We have similar arrangements for Christmas at work. I was told I didn't have to save any days as I'll be on maternity leave. You accrue annual leave and bank holidays whilst on leave. I work for a law firm.

Hope you've found an answer, but just to add to the above - I have the exact same set up as Osirus, different industry.

Annual leave is brought forward that includes compulsory days. When you return any unused leave and bank holidays accrued over the period are credited into your entitlement amount.