Maternity leave / pay

[helpme2023]

I returned from maternity leave in Dec 24 after taking 12 months off

My company offers 6 months full pay, 3 months stay and 3 months unpaid.

I have now found out that I am pregnant with the baby due in oct 25

I have searched my company maternity documents and nothing at all is mentioned about a set of time to return to work before being eligible for enhanced pay again and there is nothing in my contract regarding maternity pay either

I was wondering if anyone had any idea on if my work can say they're not willing to pay enhanced as I've only returned to work for 9 months when there's no terms listed in either the policy or my contract?

Thank you

Ours doesn't have anything about a set amount of time to have been back from maternity leave but does make clear that your enhanced pay is calculated using your pay from a qualifying period that is 8 weeks in length and would be at around the 4th month of pregnancy.

Thanks @Petrie999 no mention of qualifying period but I would be working normally then anyway

The only thing that confuses me it the wording is along the lines of 'if you have one years continuous service you may be entitled to enhanced pay' there seems to be no qualification to the 'may'

The policy has changed since my last maternity as the originally had a claw back for enhanced pay and now that is not mentioned in the policy at all

HR here. It would be very unusual to specify an amount of time you have to return before getting enhanced pay again. You’re an employee with all the normal rights and continuous service the whole time you’re on maternity leave, if the policy says 1 year service for enhanced pay you’ve already passed that. If you qualified for enhanced pay before you’ll qualify again.

@BuffaloCauliflower that's what I was hoping for but just wanted to check I wasn't missing something obvious, thank you