Taking Maternity off of you if you go off with Corona

[Tothemoonandbackx]

My SIL is working for a company as a receptionist, so very face to face with alot of people. She's very anxious obviously about the Corona Virus and work have been less than helpful. They've said if she takes any time off due to corona, or any time off sick, then they will be taking it out of her maternity leave, can they do this legally??? I've tried looking it up online, but there's so much to go through, any help would be fantastically appreciated Xx

How far along is she? If you go off sick after 36 weeks they can start your maternity leave at that point.

it would be illegal to take it out any statutory pay, as for anything they were paying as an extra that would need to be in her contract.

If she's more than 36 weeks they can insist she starts her maternity leave. Sooner than that and they have to pay her SSP

The people who have said they can start your leave if you're off after 36 weeks pregnancy are only sort of right.

If your SIL has corona virus symptoms and so would be off whether she is pregnant or not then the sickness is unrelated to pregnancy and so can have no impact on maternity leave at all (it would be discriminatory to do so).

If your SIL is off sick for a pregnancy related reason in the 4 weeks leading up to the Sunday before her expected due date then they can make her start her maternity leave from that point.

All sickness absence related to her pregnancy should be recorded as pregnancy related and cannot be used against her in any way (eg redundancy criteria, performance assessment etc).

Thank you, I just wanted to make sure I could offer the right advice. I said to my dad earlier that I'm sure they can't do that as having time off for being ill when it's not pregnancy related should have no impact on her maternity leave, they've basically told her that any time she takes off now, if she decides to self isolate, will be taken off of her maternity leave. She's roughly 20 weeks xx

If she ends up on sick pay during the qualifying weeks it could affect her maternity pay 🤷🏻‍♀️

Only after 36 weeks.

Maternity pay is calculated on the average pay between two dates (google will tell you but I'm fairly sure 20weeks is in that period). Maybe they meant that her taking leave now or being furloughed will impact on her maternity pay - if she has a 20% cut now to furlough then her maternity pay will be calculated on that lower pay instead of her actual pay.

Its not really about the pay, it's about the time she's allowed off. If she takes two weeks off now, due to self isolation, they're saying they will take two weeks off of her maternity leave. X

She cannot start her Mat Leave before 29 weeks (unless baby arrives before then).
She is legally entitled to 52 weeks of leave (made up of statutory mat leave of 39 weeks followed by additional mat leave of 13 weeks).

Np employer is permitted to deduct the time she is legally entitled to.

So, they either agree between her and them that she starts mat leave at 29 weeks, and uses whatever type of leave is appropriate before then to plug the gap, or they find an alternative type of leave for the two weeks, she returns to work afterwards, and her 5w weeks of maternity leave are still available to her.

How l9ng has she worked with the company?

Alternatively, she remains at work and asks them to complete a risk assessment and supply her with ppe(hand sanitizer etc) along with fitting a perspex screen at her desk for extra protection when the public come in and speak with her.