Anyone in HR that could advise me?

[Iamchanging]

Hi all,
Just hoping for a bit of advice if possible. I was planning on quitting my job due to the absolutely horrendous culture (small company that is racist, homophobic, the works.) However I have just found out that I am pregnant and don't want to lose my maternity pay. The company offers SMP, nothing beyond that (in fact they have an unwritten rule of not employing women with one child as 'they might want another' ) So essentially what I am asking is if my due date is the 26th Jan, when can I hand my notice in? And will my three months notice period be included, or not? Thank you so much, the place really is killing me after 2 1/2 years.

If your due date is 26th January 2018, the earliest you can start maternity leave is at 29 weeks, which will be 16th November 2017. Whether you have annual leave you can use before that is another matter.

As for your notice, if you decide not to return, you can give your notice during your maternity leave, and your notice can run concurrently with it. So you can inform your employer that you don't intend to return after maternity leave, during your maternity leave. As long as you do that more than 3 months before you are due to go back, you won't have to work a notice period.

Sorry, I forgot to say that they work in complete weeks, so it will be around the 16th November 2017, but you'd have to look up the exact date because it will either be the Monday before or the Monday after.

Thank you so much! I was hoping it would be a bit earlier I could quit as it is only SMP and still receive it. Oh well better grit my teeth for a bit longer! Thanks again

Ahh I see. Well in that case, technically, you only need to have worked for your employer continuously for at least 26 weeks up until the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth, so that means 25 weeks of pregnancy. So that could take you back to the 19th of October.

If you aren't bothered about the 90% of your average weekly earnings for 6 weeks then you could leave that job whenever you want, find something else to tide you over and claim Maternity Allowance instead.

That sounds better lougle. If I I took the 19th October option would I then need to work my three months notice for would that be inclusive of it. Can't thank you enough for your help!

No, you have a three month notice period. You have 1 year of maternity leave (39 weeks paid, 13 weeks unpaid). As long as you have informed your employer by week 39 ish of your maternity leave that you don't intend to come back (ie. 3 months before your maternity leave finishes) then the last 3 months of your maternity leave is your notice period.

Here's a good fact sheet on resigning during pregnancy/maternity leave

Thank you lougle.
Apologies, what I meant is I want to hand my notice in, as that would be three extra months where I'm not forced to travel to countries with zika and work 80 hour weeks.
So could I: hand my notice in on the 19th July, work my three months until the 19th October and still get SMP?
So sorry about this - bet you are regretting answering now!

Thank you that's very useful. I just can't see anything about the notice period counting or not there.

If you have paid at least 13 national insurance payments in the 61 weeks before your qualifying week (15 weeks before due date) then you might be entitled to maternity allowance. It's the same amount as smp but claimed from DWP. They have a calculator on their website.

It's this bit that applies:
"Resigning from your job during maternity leave

I have decided not to return to work. What should I do and what am I entitled to?

You should resign in the normal way, giving the notice period stated in your contract or agreed with your employer. If you resign during your maternity leave, you do not have to go into work to ‘work’ your notice, you can remain on maternity leave. But if you resign after the end of your maternity leave, you should work your notice unless you have agreed to take annual leave or you need to take sick leave."

You need a risk assessment done asap - no more traveling to countries that have cases of Ziko!

Thanks you both very much. Hugely appreciated.

But yes, you could choose to hand your notice in before Maternity Leave and finish when you go on Maternity Leave.

The problem is random that I'm only four weeks. If I tell them now and then lose the baby the owner will invent a reason to fire me before I can get pregnant again. Sounds like I'm exaggerating but I'm not. I got hauled into a meeting and yelled at the other day for putting someone (fantastic) through to a second interview that once had an epileptic fit. Apparently "we're not running a charity 😡"

Email is always good - can't be denied. It gives you a clear proof that your employer knew you were pregnant. You have no obligation to inform your employer for some time yet, but they can't be responsible for risk assessment if they don't know, and also if you start to show before you tell them, you'd have to prove that they knew and discriminated against you if they dismissed you. By telling them early, they have to risk assess early and you have proof that they know.

Sounds horrible. Worth mentioning that if you resign and leave around week 25 yes you will be entitled to smp, but if you wait a few weeks and leave and take mat leave from week 29 you will get your smp as well as accrue holiday pay in lieu for the 12 month period as well as pension (even if you don't go back).

As long as your employment ends after you've met the qualifying criteria for SMP, you get it even if you have left employment, so yes you could had in your notice to finish in October. But if you work until 29 weeks you can start maternity leave then, be on maternity leave for a year, accrue a year's worth of holiday during that time and get paid it. For the sake of an additional 4 weeks work, I'd do that tbh.

Thank you everyone,
I'm not due to go to Asia for 4 weeks so I might pay for a private scan in a couple of weeks just so I know things are progressing ok and then tell them (by email!) Thank you so much again.