Temporary contract and maternity leave

[hazelnutlatte]

Temporary contracts and maternity leave

Wow - a genius start to the thread from me, thanks ipad

I'm employed on a 2 year temp contract, as are all of my colleagues. At the end of the contract, it is generally automatically renewed for a further 2 years - one colleague has worked here for 15 years but still has a temp contract, the same as mine. (The reason for this is the funding for our department comes in from various sources and so can't be guaranteed too far in the future)

I'm not pregnant but planning to be at some point in the future. I was wondering if anyone could let me know what should happen if my maternity leave was due to start at the end of my contract? Would I be entitled to SMP? Also, we get very good company maternity pay (6 months full pay) so if my maternity leave was mid contract then I would get this, and would get this if my contract was renewed during mat leave.
I have a feeling that if my mat leave started at the end of my contract then it wouldn't get renewed - is it legal for them to do this if my contract would have been renewed if I hadn't gone on mat leave? I feel I should be entitled to maternity pay like a permanent employee, since that is what my job essentially is - but it's hard to prove this - could anyone give me an idea of what usually happens in this situation?

Your employer may be under the misapprehension that by issuing temporary contracts and renewing them every 2 years they are somehow limiting their obligations to their employees.

If the primary reason for failing to renew your contract was that you were pregnant, or intended to take maternity leave; this would be automatically unfair dismissal and pregnancy and maternity discrimination.

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/section/99

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/18

As Marie says, they can't not renew your contract because of your maternity leave if it is likely they otherwise would have, which seems to be the case.

If you are on temporary contracts continuously for four years, you are permanent whatever your contract says.

Also, once you've got two years' service, you are entitled to redundancy pay and procedures the same as anyone else anyway.

So unless the funding is for a specific thing for a specific two year period and the contract relates to that thing, then there is probably no value at all in your employer only renewing for two years at a time.

Oh, and you would be entitled to SMP, and can't be treated less favourably than a permanent member of staff in terms of other benefits, so enhanced maternity pay should also be offered in the same way. Of course there may be a "clawback" in that staff have to return for x period of time after maternity leave to avoid having to pay enhanced pay back, so if your contract would legitimately end during your maternity leave, it would probably be better not to have the enhanced pay, however if your contract would be renewed, then there's no reason not to give you the enhanced.

As I've said, if you've been continuously employed for four years you are permanent anyway.

Thanks for the information, it's useful to know what the legislation says. It's all theoretical at the moment but it's good to know that they can't choose not to renew my contract because I'm pregnant.

The reason for the temp contracts is due to the funding for my department - I work in research and we need to apply for grants and so on in order to fund our posts. I do work for a fairly large organisation so hopefully they will be well informed about employment law and I won't need to worry!