I work for a local authority, there is an agreement that 5 days leave can be carried over into the new leave year to be taken before the end of May. If a member if staff is off sick leave can be carried over beyond this point (I.e. Until the member of staff returns to work).
I have a staff member whose maternity leave started much earlier than expected, baby was six weeks prem. this early start meant she couldn't take give days leave she was going to before her mat leave started. She feels she dhould be able to carry this over as though she were off sick but HR say no. My staff member feels this is 'different treatment' as the refusal to allow staff to carry over leave if on maternity or paternity leave unduly penalises women.
I am wondering if she might be right? She is likely to put in a grievance and if she will win I'd rather just grant her the leave but HR are bring quite intransigent. I am not totally comfortable with HR as the advice I had from them about the same staff member's entitlement to continue to revive childcare vouchers during mat leave was totally incorrect (something I only knew because of this board)!
Thanks for any thoughts/opinions.