Pregnant during maternity leave

[Sarah2326]

Hi, Am wondering if anyone can help with advice on my situation please..
I had to go on maternity leave Just 3months into new job (long story found out I was pregnant just after accepting d offer and I had to extend the start date because of hyperemesis). Unfortunately I had stillbirth at 40weeks. Couldn’t go back to work straight after so took my full maternity leave... my maternity leave has just ended and am currently 4 months pregnant and suffering with hyperemesis again!! I don’t think I can go back to work before this baby is due For my own mental wellbeing.
Dh is advising that I just quit as it is morally wrong to go On sick leave and then another maternity leave.

What do you think? I really like the job and I don’t want to have long gap of unemployment when I quit.

I'm sorry to hear about your loss, and congratulations on being pregnant again.

Can I ask why you think returning to work will be harmful for your mental wellbeing? Has your doctor advised you it will be?

Sorry for your loss. I would just take sick leave and maternity leave.

I see his point but honestly I would just take what you can get. Sounds like you deserve a break.

Dh is advising that I just quit as it is morally wrong to go On sick leave and then another maternity leave.

Wonderful how men have the luxury of moralising about this stuff when it doesn't affect them. You have every right to take time you need to recover from this trauma of loss. And to ensure your rights are secured to return to work. It's great that you like your job, and that you are considering your employment history. I would have thought a plan towards returning to your job could be a positive boost even if for a few months. You could still make a good contribution to your workplace.

Is it something you could discuss with HR if you have one, or with your manager, to clarify that you would like to return but need reasonable adjustments (maybe start back on reduced hours for some initial weeks to get you into the swing again?)

Dh is advising that I just quit as it is morally wrong to go On sick leave and then another maternity leave.

Absolutely not.

An employer has an obligation to their staff when they’ve been signed off sick and/or on maternity. Accepting that sometimes timings aren’t ideal is part and parcel of employing human beings rather than robots.

I got pregnant again when I was still on maternity with dc1. I was so so nervous about telling Our HR manager, but when I did she said not to worry about it, its what happens when you’re employing women of childbearing age- it’s a fact of life!

I feel that making the decision not to go back to a job you only did for 12 weeks isn't a decision that can or should be made from home in my opinion.
It's a discussion to have with work in conjunction with your GP / occupational health.
Otherwise what you're expecting is to work for 12 weeks, be off for a year, take 6 months sick pay (having not even gone back to work or even considered adjustments to make it work) only to take another year off. It's 2 and a half years off work after 12 weeks in the job.

If having spoken to your employer and HR, phased return, different duties, perhaps some home working, other adjustments have been tried then there's nothing wrong at all in being signed off, but deciding from home you don't want to return to work but want to claim sick/maternity pay is morally off to me.

So the proposal is you don't go back at all until your second maternity leave is ended?

I would imagine small companies struggling with this to be honest, but as long as you are signed off you are entitled to do it. Think about what you plan to do once that maternity leave is over though.

If you took the full 52 weeks mat leave then you're unlikely to qualify for SSP as you'll have been in your unpaid mat period during the point used for SSP calculations. With a year's service it's likely that you'll only be entitled to a matter of weeks' occupational sick pay from your employer, if any (depends on your employer's policy).

You're therefore unlikely to qualify for SMP if you remain off work as your earnings will be low/nil during the qualifying period.

I point this out because it's fairly likely that you remaining absent throughout your pregnancy and mat leave isn't actually going to cost your employer much, if anything at all, so there's no moral drama over the financial burden on the employer.

Plus if you stay off, they can likely just keep your current mat cover on until you come back from your next mat leave so it might actually be easier than you going back for a few months then going off again.

That said, you'd have absolutely nothing to feel bad about even if it was costing them money or inconveniencing them. Life happens.

Grapefruit has it exactly right - employees are humans not robots and employers have to deal with these things.