Forced maternity leave from 28 weeks. Is this fair?!

[Sie9410]

Good evening everyone

I'm expecting baby #3 in March and have recently been told by my work place that I have to finish work at 28 weeks.

The reason is because when I'll be heavily pregnant I will be in a covid high risk group as I work on a busy hospital word in a patient facing roll, so I'm in a lot of close contact. I assumed this means they put us on medical suspension from 28 weeks and then start our actual leave from when baby is born or earlier if we had wished. But after speaking to the ward Sister, this doesn't seem to be the case... I'm being told I have to use up whichever remaining Annual Leave I have first (3 days in my case) and then start my ML immediately after that. Then after the ML finishes, use AL again for as long as I can/want.

I argued back that this was really not fair as I'll be having to return to work really early whilst my baby is a lot younger than it would have been if I started maternity leave around 36 weeks which I'd usually do. She tried to say that no, using annual leave before and after ML it would make it just as long as usual. That's really not the case, I always start by using my remaining AL anyway and then use my accrued leave for the following year before returning to work.

Does this make sense to anyone? Am I missing something? By my calculations if I did it the way they are saying I have to then I'd be returning to work in the October with my baby only 7ish months old. I usually pretty much exclusively breastfeed them until 9/10months and my shifts at work are 10hrs so I just can't see this working out.

Can they really force me to use my maternity leave so earlier on? I said to them that I don't think that seems right and that moving me to a less risky department for the remainder of my pregnancy, or putting me on medical suspension would seem more logical but I was told that this is the way they are doing things for now. I didnt go any further into it with my manager because I know its not her fault, but I'm lost with what to do next and I know I'm not the only one in this position. I work for the NHS and I would expect many other women are currently feeling the same way. Anyone?!

They are wrong. The only time they can force maternity leave to start early is in the last few weeks of your pregnancy if you were to be signed off sick with a pregnancy related illness (ie they can’t just start it because you’re 37 weeks and have flu, it has to be directly related to the pregnancy). If they deem you to be high risk in the role where you currently work then they have to either make reasonable adjustments to that role, offer you a role somewhere else or suspend you on full pay until such time as you take maternity leave or they have in place proper adjustments to allow you to return to your role without the risk they originally identified. The only other time that maternity leave is triggered is by the birth of your baby and you must take it before or on your due date (even if baby comes 2 weeks late). The law is very clear on this and maternity action are even clearer still. There’s no excuse whatsoever for them to think otherwise, especially not as a manager who should really do some research before coming up with utter nonsense.

Just reiterating the same... also an nhs nurse here. I was also told it would be mat leave from 28 weeks, had to go to the rcn but they were very helpful. It's 100% medical suspension on full pay until you plan to start mat leave... don't be fobbed off

NHS (ambulance) here too, I was even allowed to change my maternity leave start date - planned on using leave from 36 weeks and then starting mat leave at 39 weeks, but because I was medically suspended and not at work, I asked if I could change my maternity leave date to my due date and they had no reason to say no (I would have been entitled to change it with a month's notice if I was at work and it's not my fault I'm at home). And because I couldn't take my 3 weeks leave I get to carry that over to next year to use at the end instead. Take everything you are entitled to! I am using 9 months maternity leave and then have 3 months annual leave accrued as I haven't been at work so will get the full year off.

No that is wrong. You should be re-deployed to a more isolated role or be allowed to work from home. If that isn't possible then they need to suspend you on full pay untill you chose to start your maternity leave. Have a look at the website Pregnant then Screwed and ACAS.

And your union if you are part if one.

@GeorgiaGirl52

Wish I had your benefits. I worked in public school and we got 8 weeks. That's it. If we took time before baby was born it was subtracted from the eight weeks. When my first child was due I worked until noon on the day she came, so I would have the full eight weeks. With my second child I timed it so I had two weeks of leave and six weeks of summer break. Can't imagine having months to bond with my baby!!

It's not a race to the bottom. 🙄

Hi so I did some research after reading your post last night.
Im a new qualified nurse and one of the sisters on the ward mentioned taking maternity leave from 28 weeks to which I didn't respond. I spoke to the guy who deals with our departments HR things and he described it as covid shielding. So I wanted to make sure myself and that they weren't going to try the same with me. The management of health and safety at work legislation section 16 (3) states that if they cannot avoid the risks or alter working hours etc they have to suspend you until there is no risk, so they can't force maternity leave. It doesn't say anything about pay though so I don't know if that's trust specific.