work have phoned me to confirm when going back 3 months still to go

[purpleturtle7]

Hi everyone!

Some advice please, I am not due back at work until June, but out of the blue I got a phonecall from my HR department.

She asked me for confirmation that I was still planning to return in June and not extending it to the full year. I was really flustered and didnt know what to say.

I said I wasnt going to think about it for another month and needed to talk to my husband, but she pushed for a decision and said that they need to forward plan?. I said again, I wasn't sure so she said she would assume that theres at least a 50% chance I will extend it. She said she would write to me in due course.

It's really stressed me out - are they allowed to contact me in this way?

Thanks for any advice :)

I don't think there is anything wrong in them asking although it was wrong to pressurise you for an answer.

If they contact you again then just tell them you will make sure you give them the required 8 week notice of your return date.

As long as you give 8 weeks notice they can't put you in any worse position on the basis of you not deciding yet.

If you want to extend/reduce your Maternity Leave there is a notice period to consider, obviously to allow your employer to make the necessary arrangements with regards to cover.

Are you sure it wasn't just a courtesy call from HR to confirm your return date? Asking when you intend to return to work is a very logical question so in itself nothing to worry about, I would say.

Yes they are 'allowed' to contact you. It's fine for her to ask whether you still intend to return in June, and it's also fine for you to say 'I'm not sure, please continue on that basis and if I change my mind I will ensure I give the correct notice'.

She shouldn't have pushed you if you made it clear you weren't sure, but there's nothing wrong with asking the question.

If it was me I would probably get some advice from my Union on this. You don't want to be backed into a corner by pushy HR people when you are hormonal and not in the work frame of mind.

I was asked a couple of days ago. I said possibly June although I may extend to September and will let them know. I put it in an email so my boss could forward to whoever as she may not be my boss by then :(

Are you somewhere they are making redundancies/cuts? May be part of their planning

I suppose it's because it caught me so off-guard, I'd just fed the baby, he was a bit whingey and I got the phonecall out of the blue. I really wasnt expecting the question so far out of my return date of June.

My work has a terrible senior management team, with an appalling HR record for complaints and grievances and I wanted to make sure this was a correct procedure. (It didnt go down very well that I was pregnant in the first place - which, in hindsight, I should have been more assertive and addressed)

She was really pushy on the phone even after I made it clear I hadnt thought about it yet.

I am a workaholic and a worrier and I've really tried hard to make the most of the time off with my gorgeous baby boy, so I suppose I just didnt need the stress today!

Thanks for everyones comments - all appreciated!