Maternity leave gone wrong

[MaiKay]

Today 20:27 MaiKay

Hi this is my first time posting and I’m hoping someone out there can help me with some advice. A bit lengthy but please help. I’m in pieces right now.

So......I am currently on maternity leave. My baby is 5 months old. Prior to going. On mat leave I was on a 1 year fixed contract at work. During that year I was TUPED when the company I worked for lost their contract to another company. My contract continued as normal with the new company. Problem came in when I was sorting out my maternity leave. Turns out my old employer had a policy to not contact employers about when they wanted to come back to work and they have a close that says you have to contact them 8 weeks before if you want to make changes to the date you said you would return to work. I forgot all about this in the middle of figuring out if I’d still have a job, some disciplinary issue at work and also having to deal with a newborn and operating on 3-5 hrs of sleep a night. I just put a date on my maternity form when I filled it as I didn’t know what was going to happen and I didn’t want a lengthy mat leave to count against me being turned into a permanent employee. At some point HR sent me an email that had a date that was later than what I had put down and I queried this. The person who replied just said they’d ammend it to match what I had put down. They didn’t mention anything else. Work contacted me 4 days before the date (11 march) I’d put down to say I was coming back. That was the first time I’d heard anything from my work since going on leave. So no conversations about my return to work or nothing. I have been told I have 20 days annual leave that I can use now but I still feel my son is too young to leave and childcare is a major issue. I really feel I might end up losing my job if I’m forced to choose but before that

1.is there any way to get my full 52 weeks still? I am a single parent with 2 kids and I can’t arrange child care at the drop of a hat

2.Is it legal for an employer to ask when you’re returning to work prior to your maternity leave

Your employer can't insist you give a return date - but if you do give a date then you do need to give 8 weeks notice to change this. I think you can only appeal to your line manager and explain you now want some extra time and see what they can do for you.

Employers have a form that asks for a return to work date but you should have been told (or I was) that I was under no obligation to put down a date. If I didn't put down a date they assumed the full 52 weeks but I only had to give 4 weeks notice of when I wanted to return. I'm not sure how it works of you want to extend it though if you already gave a date.
As a reassurance if it is any help I went back to work full time when my son was just under 6 months old... It was hard initially but he was fine and I got used to it quickly 😊 good luck

If you're in the UK I'd have a look at Maternity Action's website, they have an advice line I think. They'll more than likely be able to help.

I’m so upset because I wasn’t actually given any information. Tbh I felt like the company just kind of left me to chase up on so much stuff including answers about what would happen to my contract . I only found that out after I had my child and my initial contract had ended. The forms I was given just said fill in a return date. Hopefully I will be able to make a complaint and it will be taken seriously.