Additional maternity leave and accrued holidays

[Leah4]

Hi, my baby is due the middle of January, and I am planning to start my maternity pay from 1 January 2007. I will be off during December as I have quite a bit of holiday to take.
I want to take a year off, and would like to know whether the holiday I would have accrued from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2007 (17 days), would be carried over to 1 January 2008, which is when my new holiday entitlement would start, and this would be when I will be returning to work. Or would my employer not allow this? She has previously allowed other people in the office to carry over more than 6 days holiday.
Also, can I also tag any accrued holiday onto the front? I get the Statutory minimum and it would be great if I could do this.

Thanks!

You do accrue holidays and other benefits while on holiday which relate to length of service ie pension or sick pay. Its up to individula employers how they let you take your holidays. In my case I completed my maternity leave and then added the 24 days on to the end of it before I physically went back to work. Previously with the same employer I took 19 of the days after and carried 5 over for a holiday later in the year. Again its up to them if they allow you to take it up front.

I would ask for a copy of the personnel handbook and see what it says but assume its at the end until you are told otherwise. They cannot make you cut your maternity leave short to take the last few days as holidays though.

Do you know if you would you get paid for the holiday or not? I start my maternity leave from Tuesday and also want to take a year off. I only get statutory mat leave so my last six months are unpaid. Checked our company handbook, which just said check with the management. Have asked the person who deals with mat leave and all he would say is that 'your normal benefits apply re pension, private health care, holiday' but would not spell out what that means!' I do not think he knows.

yes, you get paid.

my understanding is if you are not allowed to carry forward your holiday they should pay you for it. as i didn't return to work after DS, i couldn't actually take the holiday so got a lovely big cheque instead.

moo, there are a couple of good websites - ACAS in particular, but I would make it clear that as head of hr you expect him to find out!

hi leah. this is potentially a tricky one as your mat leave coincides with your holiday year if your employer has a policy that you have to take your holiday in the holiday year and can't carry it forward they are within their rights to apply this to you. Since you can't get a straight answer I would inform them in writing of what you intend to do and put the onus on them to tell you if they're not happy about it. it would be short-sited of them to try and prevent you from taking it because of the goodwill and impact on your morale. Good luck, hopw this works out for you.

From this

You?ll still build up all your entitlements to paid holiday during ordinary maternity leave. However, unless your contract says differently, you?ll accrue only the statutory minimum (4 weeks) holiday entitlement during additional maternity leave.

You can add holiday to the beginning or end of your leave. You may not be able to carry over untaken holiday entitlement if your maternity leave goes over two holiday years, so it?s best to take this at the beginning of your leave.

Sorry for not sending an email sooner. Thanks very much for the responses. I currently receive 17 dyas holiday a year; 12 days and a proportion of the bank holidays which is 5. Would I have accrued all 17 days holiday if I took a year off, or just half of this amount?
My manager has previously allowed staff to carry over unused days. I had 8 last year carried over. Also, if I took a some of it at the beginning of January would I have to repay the holiday if I did not return to work? I thought I would have to. I will be using three weeks of my holiday before I start my maternity leave. Hope this makes sense!

Thanks

Do you work full or part time?

You don't have to return to work to get your accrued holiday entitlement

For example I worked full time and I was entitled under my contract to 23 days holiday. The company's maternity policy said that 23 days applied for maternity leave as well

I took all the holiday I had already accrued before starting my maternity leave.
I didn't return to work. At the end of my maternity leave they paid me for 23 days (the holiday I had accrued whilst away)

Hope this helps

Thanks for that TheBlonde. I work part time. Would I get all 17 days holiday then?

It is quite confusing, and difficult to get any answers as I don't have a HR department and my boss has very little understanding of how it works. I really want to take a year off, and want know whether the holiday I would have accrued from 1 January 2007 to 31 December 2007 (17 days), would be carried over to January 2008. If I can't, I may return to work at the end of November and take some holiday before officially returning. At least I will still be on leave but getting some money as well!

I really can't see her allowing me to use some of my 2007 holiday entitlement at the beginning of my leave, but I will try to add it on the end of it.

yes you'll get the 17days as you said you get stat min annual leave.

you may not get the bank holidays though that fall within the additional mat leave (last 6mths).

you need to negiotate how this leave will be taken with your line manager. options are:

1. take before mat leave
2. take at end of year therefore first month back you only work one week
3. use it up gradually on your return i.e. sign up to say 3 days a week but work 2 and have 1 as annual leave.
4. ask for it to be paid

are there any returning mums in your office? have a chat with them and see how they approached it. then approach your line manager to discuss and make a decision.

Hi Leximum. I am the first female in the office to go on maternity leave. I work for a small company. Thanks for the suggestions. I think I may ask to take some of my annual leave at the beginning or the end of my maternity leave.

I was concerned my company would not allow me to carry over 17 days to the next holiday year when I would not have been in the office until Jan 08. Yet if she has allowed other people to carry some days over. I hope I will be treated the same!