Can I start my mat leave earlier?

[nm123]

This is going to be rather lengthy, apologies in advance for the essay!!

My EDD is 12th Dec. I've currently set up my mat leave to start on 11th and my boss is insisting I use my annual leave before I go (11.5 days) so my last day of work is midday 24th Nov.

I'm thinking of bringing my maternity leave forward to 1st December, and using the annual leave this means my last day would be midday 15th November.

I've read that I need to give 28 days notice to make changes, so presumably I fall into that if I discuss with my boss this coming Monday (31st Oct)? But - what about the annual leave part? It was at my boss' insistance that I had to use it all my annual leave before I went on mat leave so it didn't roll over into a new annual leave year, but that effectively means they get just over 2 weeks notice of me finishing work, even though my mat leave notice falls into the 28 days....

By way of background, my boss has been as difficult as she possibly could so far about my mat leave, so I'm a bit nervous about all this. The reasons I want to take my mat leave early is that there are 3 of us in this role (me and 2 others - lets call them A and B). A has resigned and it's her last day on Monday (31st Oct), and B has been signed off for 2 weeks with stress/anxiety/health, due back w/c 7th Nov, but we are unsure whether or not she will return. So.... That leaves me - essentially having to do 3 people's work until B comes back. I don't want to take on more work at this stage in my pregnancy (I'm 33+5) and thought I'd be winding down by now.

I told my boss I was pregnant during the first week of June, and A had already told her then she would be resigning at some point as her husband had a new job abroad - she then officially gave her 1 months notice on 1st October. My boss has done nothing to sort out my maternity cover or a replacement for me, so I'm sure B's stress is partly due to everything falling to her to do once I go off on mat leave.

So - whilst I know I'm being relied on at this point in time, I don't feel it's my responsibility to hold the fort. It's also been a hard few months (moved back from Australia to the UK at 24 weeks pregnant, only just moved in to our new place after staying with friends and family for 8 weeks) and I really want to focus on the baby, getting prepared, my health/sanity and just generally be able to chill out for these last few weeks.

If my boss gets shirty about me finishing earlier, I'm not sure how to play it... Could I get signed off by my GP because I'm fairly sure the stress would do me in? I've read that if you're signed off for something pregnancy-related during the 4 weeks before your EDD, your mat leave must start then - but would this be considered pregnancy? For various other reasons, which I won't bore you with, I don't want my mat leave to start before 1st Dec....

I suppose I'm just wondering whether boss will have no choice re the mat leave, but then could make my life difficult by not approving the annual leave, so in effect I wouldn't be able to finish any sooner?

Anyway, thanks if you got this far, your experience/advice is much appreciated!

Oh sorry, one more question... If I did get signed off, I wouldn't want this to put me in a different risk category or mean that I possibly couldn't have my home water birth... Anyone know if getting signed off jeopardises any of that?

I think your boss could refuse the annual leave due to lack of staff but if they did they would have to let you carry over.
You could give notice of change of date then see what they say regarding leave.
Do you have a HR dept/person?

Stress shouldn't affect your home birth unless it causes physical ( BP?) problems

Thanks Harriet, I guess it's the annual leave bit I'm worried about. But given how insistent she was that I use it all before I go perhaps she's shot herself in the foot!!

I'll see on Monday I guess....

Yes you can start mat leave early if you give the 28 days notice, but you may lose your annual leave as your employer has not prevented you from taking it.

If there us a "no crry over" policy then you've had ample time to take your annual leave before the end of the annual leave year so it's more you that's shit yourself in the foot if you now want to start ml earlier (which is your right).

Shot! Whoops!

Hmmm thanks peeps.

I haven't really had ample time to take my leave - I transferred back from Oz on 1st September so my UK entitlement was 16.5 days from 1 sept to 31 march. Policy allows for 5 days to be carried over to next year as standard, or more if your line manager approves it. I had hoped to carry over more than 5 days and tack it on the end of my mat leave along with next years accrued leave. My manager doesn't want me to do that so is insisting I use it before I go on mat leave. Surely I've got to be able to take it at some point?!?!

Should've worked through the issue earlier and should've taken some leave earlier IMHO. If you knew you were pregnant, new the carry-over policy and knew how much leave you had to take then you can't blame your employer.

Recent legal advice (I go on ml in January) is that staff should take their leave before ml, if their ml takes them over the end of the annual leave year. Carry over is at the discretion of the director (me!) and only in very exceptional circumstances. When you know you are pregnant, that's not "exceptional".

Ie between sept first and the start of your ml you have had 11 days to take - which you could have taken.

Thanks HL. I can see your points... But operationally I wouldn't have been approved to take leave as my two colleagues have been out on holiday a lot so I've had to cover for them at various times, plus we've been really busy.

Part of the reason I agreed to work as late as poss was to help handover and train the newbies so I feel I've been quite flexible and happy to help.

I'll see what my boss says tomorrow. She has had 5 months to sort out cover for me and 'A' and I will drown if I have to take on her work as well as sickly 'B's work too.... This, in essence, is why I want to finish sooner. I work 6:30-2:30 to accommodate Asia-Pac timezones, B works later to cover the US. I can't do both.....

How did you get on nm?

Boss said she didn't want to talk about it today and pretended to be real busy (ie. Faffing about with her mortgage application, booking her wknd away and leaving early to go trick or treating...).

Sickly colleague B will find out on thurs if the doc thinks she's well enough to come back next week, but even if she does it's likely to only be 3 days per week initially....

I'm working from home the rest if the week so will email boss tomorrow so at least I've covered my back from the 28 days notice thing.