Holiday accrual whilst on maternity leave

[Nooster]

I hope there's someone who can tell me this - I have been searching the govt websites for this but can't find anything conclusive.

I am due to give birth 6/12/07.

I know you can take all annual leave that is left in this year before starting maternity (I have 8 days left which for me is two weeks as I work 4 days) but as the bulk of my maternity leave will be in the next year (2008) what will happen to those hols?

If I come back halfway through august 2008 after taking the 9 months off on SMP - will I still have 16 days holiday left (my yearly allowance as its pro rata but doesnt include bank hols)

Or will I only be left with 1/4 of of it as there's only one quarter of the year left? Do I have to take the 3/4 of holiday accrued in the first part of 2008 as part of my leave also ? Before coming back?

My maternity lave last time finished in February and I went to work somewhere different so this didn't apply then.

I apologise if this is rambling!

Thanks, Nicki

A quick response as I'm typing with a hungry baby in my arms !

You accrue A/L as if you are at work, and can either tag it onto mat leave at end or go back to it - but needs to be used by end of your normal A/L year.

HTH

Can you speak to your HR about it?

I've a feeling you only accrue during OML not any AML.

I think the answer is yes - the law on maternity leave provides that during your 6 months ordinary maternity leave you are entitled to the same terms and conditions of employment that you would have received had you been working normally (except in relation to pay).

Acas operate a helpline and can usually advise on maternity leave type issues. There telephone number is 08457 47 47 47.

Have you tried asking your employer what the answer is?

Oops "Their telephone number"... I can spell honest, just not think and type at the same time!

Isn't the 9 months now classed as OML? Or is 3 months of it AML? Why would it be paid if it was AML?

We don't have a HR dept - its only a small company!

I may ring ACAS - thanks for that.

I believe that whilst you are on Ordinary maternity leave (6m) you accrue all holidays as though you were at work.

Whilst you are on Additional Maternity leave (post 6m) you accrue bank holidays only.

Check your employers maternity leave guidlines to ensure that these are legal guidlines and not just specific to my company.

I have just found this here

It is dated June 2006 - so looks out of date WRT 26wks/39wks. But this implies that you should accrue holidays at a rate of 20days/year whilst on AML. I am sure I didn't though . Looks like it is the "working time regulations" which might be of help - try googling with other key phrases (e.g. maternity, holiday 39wks etc.) that I am afraid I have to go to work now or I would dig for you.

"Accrual of holiday during OML & AML
Holiday accrues as normal under the contract during the 26 weeks of ordinary maternity leave. During additional maternity leave the employee will accrue holiday under the Working Time Regulations. This entitles all employees to 20 days holiday per year. You may find it easier to allow the employee to continue accruing holidays as laid down in her contract rather than attempting to administer two systems."

AML is usually unpaid (SMP is only 6 months)but any payments ovr and above SMP can be discretionary and may be made conditional upon your return afterwards, if stated beforehand.

here this implies the same but is dated July 2007

SMP is now 9m (or will be very soon}

SMS you're right

"Babies due on or after 1 April 2007

SMP is paid for:

First 6 weeks 90% of your average weekly earnings with no upper limit
Remaining 33 weeks Standard rate or a rate equal to 90% of your average weekly earnings. You will get whichever rate is lower.

The standard rate from April 2007 is £112.75."

Indeed SMP and OML are 9m as of 1 April 2007...

X posts

SMP has been 9 months since 1/4/07 hasn't it?

nicki sounds like you are intending to go back to work after your Ordinary Maternity Leave - the paid bit, which means you will accrue your holiday exactly as if you were at work.

Just to throw something else into the mix, the statutory holiday entitlement is going up to 24 days (for full time employees) from October - Nicki as you work 4 days a week this means you will be legally entitled to 19.2 (!) days next year, although this does include bank holidays, so may not affect you if you currently get these off as well as your normal holiday.

But for general info this means that in Additional Maternity Leave holiday will now be accrued at the rate of 24 days a year rather than 20.

I had my letter from HR last week. In my compant (public sector) we still get all of our materity leave whether on AML or OML. I can take up to a year off which of course means it goes over the tax year in april. I have only taken 3 days off this year and was planning to tag the rest at the begining of my materity leave, however I have been off sick for last 12 weeks and will not be returning before materity leave kicks in, so have no chance of taking it, therefore I will have about 6 weeks AL to tag on end of materity leave
You should incur all of your AL while on Materity leave.

lisa

Oh thank you everyone - and flowery bean bag - you've given me one more thing to investigate!!

So I will probably be able to come back to work, then diappear on holiday again! Wahay!

I bet my company will pretend thats not happening!! They're not too bad but they won't like that!

Marvellous, and such a quick response from everyone. I'm new here and am v impressed. And I wish I'd chosen as more interesting name now!

nicki

I think you have your answer but ... I have just been through this my self and you would accrue all holiday as if you were at work even in AML. This is because of working time directive re Holiday entitlement. If your company give you over and above the statutory entitlement then they may not give you this (mine have done although I think they misunderstood the rules and I'm not going to volunteer the info!)

there seems to be some mixed responses here, so for clarity

OML is 6 months
AML is 6 months
SMP is 9 months

on OML you accrue a/l as per your contract

on AML you accrus a/l according to the statutory minimum which is currently 20 days pa, but goes up to 24 days pa from Oct 07.

The other thing to check is whether you are allowed to carry leave over from one leave year to another - I ended up using some accrued leave before I went on m/l so as not to lose it as we are only allowed to carry over 10days, anything above this is lost according to my T&Cs.

This is a direct quote from the [[http://www.dti.gov.uk/employment/employment-legislation/employment-guidance/page34244.html DTI site}}

ANNUAL LEAVE AND MATERNITY LEAVE

Employees on maternity leave retain their entitlement to statutory annual leave (four weeks? paid leave per year) throughout ordinary and additional maternity leave. If the employee is also entitled to contractual annual leave (that is, annual leave that is provided by her contract, on top of the four weeks statutory minimum provided by law) she will continue to accrue this additional, contractual entitlement during Ordinary Maternity Leave. She does not, however, have an entitlement to continue accruing contractual annual leave during Additional Maternity Leave unless she has agreed otherwise with her employer.

It is not possible for an employee to take annual leave at the same time as maternity leave. It will, though, usually be possible for an employee to use any untaken annual leave either before she starts her maternity leave, or once her maternity leave has finished.

She could, for example, agree with her employer that she will take two weeks? annual leave immediately before starting maternity leave. This would mean that her last day at work before maternity leave was actually two weeks before her maternity leave began. It should be remembered, though, that if the baby is born early the maternity leave must start from that point.

Employers and employees will often find it useful, once the woman has given notice that she is pregnant, to incorporate annual leave arrangements into their planning. This is particularly important if the employee plans to take a whole year?s maternity leave, as it is not possible to carry over statutory annual leave from one leave year to the next, or to pay the employee in lieu of any untaken statutory annual leave unless the contract is terminated. It is, of course, up to the employer and the employee to agree between them whether to carry over or provide pay in lieu of any untaken contractual annual leave above the statutory minimum.

I'll try that link again.....

DTI site

Its all clear now. I only get the basic hols anyway so it will react the same over the 9 months. I can carry holiday over to the next year but will take it before i go in November.

Then I may add the following years on to the end of mat leave, or maybe not - not decided about that one yet!

I just feel bad for my employer being on leave for whats more like 10 months rather than 9!!

Nicki