What is returning to the "same job" - teacher case + pat leave.

[Judy1234]

I just got this and may be of the interest

"Maternity - what is the 'same job'?

Women who return from maternity leave are normally entitled to return to 'the job in which they were employed before their absence'. The EAT has handed down the first decision considering what this actually means.

The Claimant was a teacher at a primary school, in which the teachers typically rotated classes every two years. When she commenced maternity leave, she was teaching the reception class. On her return, she was allocated to teach Year 2. She alleged that this was not a return to the same job.

The EAT, upholding the tribunal, held that this was the same job. It was necessary to consider three factors when comparing the 'old' and 'new' jobs: nature, capacity and place. The Claimant was employed as a primary school teacher, and she returned to work as a primary school teacher. Therefore the statutory requirement was satisfied."

Completely separately...

DTI Consultation on Statutory Paternity Leave

The DTI has issued a further consultation paper on the implementation of statutory paternity leave and pay, which is planned to come into force in 2009.

The scheme allows mothers to pass some of their statutory maternity leave (and pay) to fathers if the mothers want to return to work during either Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML) or Additional Maternity Leave (AML).

The government proposes to allow a father to 'self-certify' that their child's mother is returning to work early and is passing her maternity leave entitlements over to him. The father will be required to give eight weeks' notice to his employer. It is not proposed that the father's employer carry out any checks with the mother's employer, although HM Revenue & Customs will carry out occasional random checks to detect and prevent fraud.

Consultation on the implementation of the scheme closes on 3 August 2007. "

Do you think the first finding about 'same job' was right? Have to say on those facts, I do. It's common for primary teachers to rotate classes and year groups in this way.

And the second one - I think it's a great idea in theory, although can see it might get abused without any checks on the self certification. They could in theory both collect maternity pay?

On same job yes that must be right as teachers do move years.

On the second item I think we can't really have all the tiny employers in the UK having to do checks. They are already hugely burdened so that's probably the right decision. Just like we don't tail everyone to see them going into sports clubs who are supposedly claiming disability benefits and unable to walk.