Resigning whilst on maternity leave and long notice period....

[mumstonic]

Hi All

I'm hoping for some advice around maternity leave.

I'm currently in month 6 of my maternity leave and have decided not to return to my previous employment. I'm contractually obliged to give 3 months notice and I have 38 days holiday entitlement remaining for this year. Also my holiday year starts again in Jan.

I want to resign, but a) I want to avoid having to pay back loads of money and b) want to be honest and resign sooner rather than later so they can hire someone to replace me. I'm also worried the longer I leave it, the longer i'm in receipt of a wage i'll inevitably have to pay back!...

Does anyone have experience of this? I did call my HR department, but couldnt get a definitive answer??

Could I take my holiday against my notice period and then just return for a week or two to handover? Or if I handed in my notice now, would they make me pay back my additional mat pay minus the holiday pay they owe me?

Many Thanks!

Have you been paid more than SMP? And if you have what does your contract say about this?

Yes, I've received 8 weeks full pay, 10 weeks half pay + smp and 12 weeks half pay minus smp (which is what I'm getting now), followed by just smp for 12 weeks or so. The contract simply says "nothing in this agreement shall prejudice the right for the company to reclaim whole opr art of the unstatutory maternity pay if the employee fails to return to work and continue in employment by the company for a minimum period of three months'.

So if you don't return to work for three months you will have to give them back all the additional numbers. Really only you and a calculator can work out how to do this without having to find money to pay them. It all really depends on how much your pay is.

PM me. I've helped several people in a similar situation to yours. There are a few potential solutions here...

I know this thread is 4yrs old but my question is similar.Can I start a new job after giving notice(but still on notice time)while on maternity leave?
I am 29wks into SMP and have been offered another job to start asap.Is it legal for me do start the job before notice finishes or is it ok as i wouldn't be returning to my old job to complete notice anyway as still on leave?