Tell me I am not being unreasonable

[emoo777]

I have had two babies quite close together, meaning two periods of leave with not much separation. My boss has told me throughout how much I am screwing over the University where I work. I am now going back on a job share (which is really good of him to sort out as it is almost never done in my job). I have been told I have to take my holiday accrued during my maternity before I go back and this is 29 days. I got a very annoyed response to this when I forwarded HR's email explaining this to me. I now feel really bad about taking this. Am I being unreasonable for taking this? I am in an environment where it is considered that you should not take all of your holiday.

He has two children like me, including an 8 month old like me. His OH is an academic too and I don't know whether she took her holiday, but I know she only had half the length of maternity leave. Still, she is way more senior than me and this would be for career reasons.

Could you not (retrospectively if necessary) redefine the last 29 days of your leave as Holiday? You'd go back to work 29 days earlier than otherwise and start being paid your salary again 29 days earlier, but they don't have to wait 29 days before getting you back on board.

If your boss makes that big a thing of it though, it is sexual discrimination to be critical of someone soley because of pregancy status. You may need to involve HR or your Union rep if this attitude is likely to be detrimental to your career.

YABU, sorry. Employers are within their rights to tell you when you can take holidays.

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I don't think she's disputing that fact hairytale, she's asking if she's unreasonable to feel bad because her boss is putting pressure on her.

hairytale - Actually, I have an email from HR telling me to take my holiday then, which is what I am doing. My boss is protesting about the fact that I accrue holiday on leave.

xkcdfangirl - Because my contract is changing from FT to 2 days a week I can't go back 5 days as I don't have childcare, and am pretty sure this would not be allowed. The university is really strict about how you take it.

Maybe I misunderstood the question.

Ah! Got it. Yanbu. He's a tit!

How it worked with my accrued leave was that if I added it on to my maty leave it was treated as if I was still on full-time hours. So say I had 10 days - I got 2 weeks full time pay/leave. If I waited to take it when I had started back it was treated like my part-time hours - so days days leave, work 3 days a week - 3 weeks (+ 1 day) leave (part-time pay obviously). Does your boss realise that if you don't tack your leave on to your maty leave then you might actually be away from work for longer??

Your boss is definitely being unreasonable to protest the fact that you accrue holiday on leave!

Am I understanding you correctly that you actually want to start work sooner but that HR are making you be away for longer than you want? Or is it that you want to keep your accrued 29 days to take at a time of your convenience? I can understand the Uni being unwilling to accept the latter, it's reasonable for them to want you to be back properly once you are back and a 29 day leave entitlement on someone working 2 days per week is practically 3 months worth which makes departmental planning impossible. I would say YABU if you were wanting them to agree this.

However, am sure that there is another way if all you are wanting is the chance to get back into the saddle asap. I worked for a Uni when I had my mat leave. They were fine with me using my accrued leave to effectively turn my full time contracted hours from pre-mat days into part time hours by taking 2 days off per week until my accrued leave ran out. This just meant that for a few months I was on a full time salary but working part time hours. Once the accrued leave has been used up in this way, then the reduced hours contract kicks in and you get the reduced salary from then.

YANBU

I would suggest doing as xkdcfangirl says though, and ending your mat leave a bit early and being on annual leave instead. If your contract is changing to 2 days a week, that will be from x date, and you will be full time until the day before x date. So if you are due back on, say, 1 June part time, notify your employer that in fact you want to return to work on [29 days before that] and take your annual leave on a full time basis.

Assuming you don't want to extend your leave by loads.

The only way I am allowed to take the holiday is to tag it on at the end of my maternity leave according to HR, and I am happy with doing it this way. If I was to end my maternity leave early I would be screwing over the person filling in for me and I am not willing to do this. My issue is not with what HR are telling me to do, but more with my boss making me feel bad about it (in writing?!). I think he must have expected me to ignore the leave I was allowed to take, but why would I do myself out of 6 weeks of full pay when I have two young children?
Thanks for your replies.