Pregnant again

[anxiousannie111]

I'm currently on maternity leave due to return to work in the next 5 weeks. At the time I am due to return to work I will be 3 months pregnant so due to leave again in February.
My role is a senior role and I am petrified of telling my boss. I love my job and would be devastated to lose it. I feel I am going to be pushed out and my duties taken away from me and eventually not have a job to return to.

How do I tell them? Will they try getting rid of me? By rights do I have to return to the same role?

Your statutory rights are attached. Contractually you may be entitled to more.

So I can't take the 9 months next time?

You can, but they can offer you either your old job back or a similar/better one (true of anyone who takes more than 26 weeks leave). If you take less than 26 weeks leave then they have to offer you your old job.

Also @TittyGolightly your phone battery is making me anxious 😂

I will defiantly be taking less than 26 weeks then. I love my job I am terrified of telling them

If you took more than 26 weeks this time you don't have the right to return to the exact job either. Plus you might not get full SMP, it will depend on the timings (although I think they look at weeks 18 to 26 so you might be back by then?)

Don’t be defiant, OP.

No, that won't do you any favours

They may surprise you, my workplace did. I was terrified of telling my bosses I was pregnant again when I was only 7 months into maternity leave but I told them as early as I could so giving them plenty of notice and we had quite a few meeting discussing what I could realistically achieve in the 4 months I was returning to work.

Like you i have a fairly senior position and a team to look after but they made it so that I had a couple of projects to work on and complete before I left so I wasn't going back and taking over then handing it back again so, as far as my team were concerned, it was like I never went back IYSWIM?

Don't panic, youve dine nothing wrong or illegal, just tell them as soon as you can.

My boss actually said he preferred it happening this way because he didn't have to worry about me going off again in a year or 2 to have baby number 2 so I'm getting it out of the way in one go (hes not the most politically correct boss).
Good luck.

I forgot to say I took 12 months off the first time and am entitled to take 12 months off this time too so worth checking your maternity policy.

I think I'm being abit thick here.....

So, if I go back for 6 months then leave for maternity and return by 26 weeks I will be entitled to SMP and my job??

Sorry my brain isn't functioning I must sound stupid

Also @TittyGolightly your phone battery is making me anxious 😂

I like living dangerously. 😈

Weeks 17-25 (or the 2 months prior to the 25th week of pregnancy) are the key ones for SMP.

Can you share leave next tome?

No can't share my partner won't. Tried that option x

Are you going back full-time, OP, because Titty is right about the qualifying period (for SMP) which it looks as if you will be very close to when you go back.

There is a calculator on the gov.uk website

www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave

I will be 13 weeks when I go back

No can't share my partner won't.

I’m not sure I’d be having more children with someone with an attitude like that!

@TittyGolightly it's not that he's a bad partner I should of stated he openly admits he struggles which I can see he is very nervous and suffers panic attack's he is brilliant when he knows someone is with him in case he gets too panicky he has suffered this for as long as iv known him

Your maternity leave right now counts exactly like employment even though you're not working (You accrue annual leave, pay taxes, etc.) You've not changed employers, so if you qualified for SMP for your current maternity leave, then you'll qualify for SMP for the next one.

As PPs have said, the SMP part that's based on your salary will be calculated from whatever payslips you receive between 17 and 25 weeks pregnant, so seeing as you're going back at 13 weeks, that shouldn't be a problem.

I wouldn't worry about taking longer than 26 weeks for your second maternity leave. It would be illegal for them to give you a worse job, and if they've kept the same job open for you this time, there's no reason to think they wouldn't the next time.

Also, I don't think you have to notify your employer until about 24 weeks ish? So you can keep it to yourself for a while longer if you like. Depends whether you think they'd appreciate the advanced notice or not?

You've not changed employers, so if you qualified for SMP for your current maternity leave, then you'll qualify for SMP for the next one.

The minimum salary requirements still have to be met.

As PPs have said, the SMP part that's based on your salary will be calculated from whatever payslips you receive between 17 and 25 weeks pregnant, so seeing as you're going back at 13 weeks, that shouldn't be a problem.

It’s a bit more complicated if someone isn’t weekly paid. It can shift the dates by quite a lot if someone is paid monthly.

Eg if the 25th week is the 4th week of the month, and she gets paid monthly on the 1st if each month it could be would be payment made in weeks 13 - 21 that would count.

Under 26 weeks maternity leave, you are entitled to the exact same job back. If you take longer then they don't have to but can't reduce your pay and hours unless you request yourself to work less.

@TittyGolightly Oh I thought that in that scenario, they would use the payslips from 18 and 22 weeks?

The OP can plug her dates into the gov.uk calculator and work out which payslips will be used. It’s impossible to guess which weeks will count as her circumstances could be literally anything!