I know that you can take maternity leave any time from 11 weeks prior to due date and I've given my employer the date of 10th September as an estimated date to start my mat leave (due date is 7th October) which I originally thought was early but would do me good due to the nature of my job working with schools (term times etc). However, I've struggled a lot with SPD recently and the people I work with really seem to grind my gears, more so now than ever (mainly because of my hormones) but I do feel very frustrated with my boss being so highly strung about everything I do (despite me being a total perfectionist, she still somehow doesn't trust that I know what I'm doing after 2 years!).
My boss and I clash a lot, she's a very argumentative woman and enjoys shouting at people like a teacher at a naughty school kid and thrives on belittling her staff in front of an audience. To an extent, I have learned to get on with things and not rise to it each time she tries (which is hard enough) but she seems to be even more confrontational now than ever and having to bite my tongue so often is starting to affect me. I'm leaving work stressed and crying so much more than I have done during my entire pregnancy that OH is becoming worried and mentioned potentially taking leave early which is what brings me here.
It's a small company so to complain about this individual would mean complaining to her about herself. She's CEO (glorified title - just a more experienced sales rep) and knows next to nothing about the admin job I do. Trying to speak to her about the issues I have with her just does not work. It's been the same for the past 2 years so nothing is going to change. If I step over her head to the Chairman (a sexist man who thinks I'm worth nothing better than making him tea for his meetings) then I fear it will fall on deaf ears and I'll be laughed out of the room. We have no HR department. Naturally, I've been close to resigning many times but my current situation makes that an impossible prospect any time in the near future.
Feeling stressed, I'm seriously now considering taking my maternity leave sooner and bringing it forward by 2 weeks (within the 28 day notice period) but I wondered if I would need to give my employer a reason for doing so? I do suffer with the SPD but I have been managing it fairly well enough to come to work and do my job so I don't know if that would be a valid reason...?