career break (short term) straight after maternity leave

[bt77]

I wonder if anyone has experience in this area that may be able to offer assistance. NHS HR are hopeless and Citizens Advice are taking an age to get back.

Our situation is this:

My wife is currently due to return to work at the end of April following the end of her maternity leave. However we have been really hit for six with the news that our 9 month old daughter requires heart surgery at Great Ormond St Hospital in early April. Given the likely recovery period from such major surgery my wife was hoping to taking a career break for a few months over this period to be at home with our daughter as she recovers back to full health.

However she has been told by NHS HR that it is impossible to go straight from maternity leave to a career break (whatever the circumstances!!) and she will be required to work a minimum of a working day per week or else repay her maternity pay.

I would really appreciate if someone could help advise us on this. To me this sounds like clear discrimination against my wife as had the need to take this emergency career break occured at any other time there would not have been an issue. The fact it occurs straight after maternity leave, when such heart defects often occur, means she is being penalised for taking maternity and then wanting to be off and care for our daughter.

Any thoughts would be gratefully received, thanks ever so much x

[Sezzathatsme]

I am about to commence commence mat leave and have had confirmation that I can go straight to career break following mat leave. I will have to work back my 3 months AFTER career break.

[Florencex]

Zombie thread

[Siennabear]

Just see this is 3 years old!!

[Siennabear]

I used to work for nhs , left recently. It’s very clear in the maternity policy that you have to return to work for 3 months following maternity leave , otherwise you have to pay back any enhancements. Can your wife just work the one day a week and you take annual leave for those days?

[Sezzathatsme]

Hey, I hope your daughter is doing well.

Did you ever get the career break sorted out of curiosity?

I am pregnant with twin and have requested career break for 2 years following maternity leave as I just will not be able to afford childcare for 2 and work also!

Below is the email from HR;

You are able to take a career break directly after your maternity leave, but we will defer the right to reclaim any OMP that you have taken to the end of your career break. You will need to return to work after your career break for 3 months or we will reclaim all of the OMP you received.

Therefore, you can take a career break straight off the back of your maternity leave (subject to managers agreement) Without having to pay back all of your OMP, as long as you return to work for at least 3 months following career break.

I did however get an email from someone in HR Beforehand who gave me the incorrect information, stating i had to return after Maternity leave for 3 months before commencing a career break! This was not the case at all!

[wickerlampshade]

Not sure if your wife is a doctor/nurse but is she a member of the BMA or equivalent union? this is the sort of thing they are good at

[SirNiallDementia]

Has your wife asked why she cannot request a careerbreak following her MAT leave?

It may be because employees an careerbreaks are expected to resign from the business for the duration of the careerbreak and as such she would not be an employee once her MAT leave ends.

You could get round this by asking for something where your wife remains an employee whilst she is off such as unpaid leave or parental leave. Or you could both request to work flexibly on a work pattern where one of you is always off work to care for your daughter? So of your wife works 1 day a week you could have that day off (annual leave or unpaid) and work the other 4 days?

[wickerlampshade]

BTW OP that sounded a bit harsh - I really wish you all the best with your daughter. What a hideous thing to happen, especially with the area your wife works in. But getting signed off sick isn't the answer.

[wickerlampshade]

I'm sure a gp would sign her off too

if she's ill
nothing in the thread suggests that she is ill
I do wish people on MN would stop trying to get GPs to collude against employers. We aren't stupid you know.

[bigkidsdidit]

Could she go back one day a week and you take that day off as leave for a few months?

[johendy]

Look into Parental leave - that asking with aural leave could be a solution.

[TittyGolightly]

And it's 4 weeks per year.

[PunjanaTea]

If she's NHS is she in a union? They should be able to advise.

[TittyGolightly]

Parental leave only covers up to age 5but could work?

[HelenDenver]

How long does she have to go back for to not repay the money?

[HelenDenver]

Or can she work that one day and you use annual or unpaid compassionate leave to be with DD that day? Or a flexible working request to work a 4 day week for a period?

[HelenDenver]

Can she go back nominally a day a week but take that day a week as holiday? Rules may prevent this holiday pattern, of course

[BellyBean]

What about parental leave? Youre entitled to quite a large number of weeks unpaid by the time your child is 16/18 and as a parent can take this at any time, I don't see why she couldn't tack it onto mat leave. Otherwise you could take it yourself. It's unpaid obviously.

Would it be easier if you asked for a career break?

[sophr2017]

ACAS are a great help with anything like this, might be worth giving them a call? They are unbiased and support both employees and employers and are likely to be able to offer advise on this. Also worth mentioning to HR that you are seeking their advice, as that will often make them look at things twice!

Www.acas.org.uk

Alternatively, can you DW not put into writing that she is taking further unpaid leave, rather than a career break/extended holiday? There must be info on her employee handbook regarding exceptional circumstances for unpaid leave/leave of absence?

Hope all goes well with your little girl and sorry to hear you're facing this

[daisychain01]

Might be worth your DW booking an appointment with her GP shortly because it would be a good idea for her GP to have noted on her record the stress levels she is undoubtedly suffering now. It will mean when she does advise her employer she has been signed off sick with stress, there will already be a precedent set on her medical record. Good to have all bases covered.

So very sorry that you are both in such a terrible situation, and that your little daughter goes on to make a full recovery.

Just a thought, even if she requests say for example 6 - 9 months off as a career break but things work out for the best, I expect she could return to work sooner, if all goes well. Fingers crossed.

[CottonSock]

I'm sure a gp would sign her off too

[FATEdestiny]

If all else fails, continue as if planning on returning work. A few days before she is due to restart, get signed off sick from the doctors. One would imagine she will be under significant amounts of stress and pressure at that time, so unable to work even if she wanted.

[ClaraLane]

Has she taken the full year of maternity leave then? She can still take the annual leave at the end of the maternity leave but she'll need a plan for when her annual leave ends. If her hospital isn't happy for her to have a career break then she'll have to look into coming back on reduced hours or she'll need to be signed off sick by her GP which may be the best bet particularly regarding the area she works in and your daughters illness.

[bt77]

Claralane,

My wife's period of maternity leave is due to run out just after the likely surgery date at which points she intends to take her accrued annual leave. The other issue is that she herself works with patients with terminal heart and lung problems, not an ideal working environment given the surgwery our daughter is to have.

[bt77]

Daisychain unfortunately at this stage things are openended as we are unsure:

1: how successful surgery will be?
2: how long our daughter will be on intensive care before even being released home
3: how long her convalescence will be until back to relative normality

I have already had my paternity leave when our daughter was born and my wife is intending to take her accrued annual leave at the end of her maternity leave. Our issue is when that ends essentially as it is extremely unlikely that our daughter will be well enough at that stage for my wife to return to work, even part-time. However it is her intention to return once our little one is well wnough.