Query on maternity leave holidays again, HELP!

[Nooster]

Hi,

I am due to go on maternity leave on 19 november and I have written my letter to my employee with all facts and MATB1 etc

I have 7 days holiday left (it runs april to april)4 of which would normally be taken at Christmas and I have requested that I take these before.

My boss is fine with this but our accountant is querying it, he's not really clued up on such things, he's telling me I can only take the hols I've accrued between April and November this year before I go away.

I have provided him with this from the DTI website :-

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.

can anyone find me anything more conclusive???

Thanks,

Nicki

Boss is right, accountant is wrong. Can't find a resource to prove it, but it is honestly the right answer!

I think that the DTI guidance explains it. You have the right to your holiday. since you can't take it whilst you are off, you should be allowed to take it whilst you are still there.

I'm sure you and boss are correct. Otherwise can't your boss just let you have the 7 days holiday prior to the official start of ML (so instead of 19th it becomes 28th or whatever) ?

I've booked them off already, its the accountant that is now querying it.

And he's just told me paid leave is 6 months not 9! gah!!! Here we go again, I thought it was common knowledge to everyone.

I've since found this and forwarded it to him:-

From parents at work.org.uk:-

Take as much of your holiday as you can before beginning your maternity leave. After you have been employed for one year, the Working Time Regulations say that you can take a full year?s leave entitlement when you wish - you do NOT have to wait until leave has accrued before taking it. If you resign part-way through a leave year and have taken more leave than you have accrued up to the end of your employment, you can only be asked to repay it if there is a payback clause in your contract. Bear in mind that if your baby is born early, your maternity leave will start on the day after the birth and you may lose some annual leave.

Its so annoying to be preggers and put under this stress!

I took all my holiday before my maternity leave as I would lose it otherwise ( mat leave went over 2 holiday years and not able to carry over) so I would echo all the comments that say your boss is right and the accountant is wrong!

Scarlet

Nooster,

Direct him to the DTI website it has all the latest information for employers on it relation to maternity/paternity . I'm an HR Manager and its where I get my updates !

Scarlet

Well, SMP is 9 months now, not 6 (he's a few months out of date), but the company paid leave might still only be 6 if they give enhanced maternity pay. That wasn't what he meant was it?

Enhanced pay? lol, no just the basic minimum here!

He's being ok about it but we've only had one person here in the past 5 years who's ever had a child so he's a bit rusty on the law! There are lots of women here who work part time, but all their kids are in their teens,.

I've sent two links to him to the DTI website now. I'll just stick to my guns but I was nervous enough handing in my requests so did do my research first.

He is the best penny pincherin the world.

Nicki

Shame (and a bit tight!).All businesses get almost all SMP back (think it's through NI system) and small businesses get it all plus a bit extra, so it's not like your £112 SMP is costing him much!

Does sound like he could do with some refresher training...

this covers it

"I have a member of staff who has not taken her paid annual leave, but is going on maternity leave soon. How will annual leave and maternity leave interact?

Annual leave cannot be taken at the same time as maternity leave. Before an employee goes on maternity leave she may wish to consider taking any outstanding leave for the relevant leave year and perhaps delay the start of her maternity leave. Alternatively, it may, depending upon the length of the maternity leave, be possible for her to take annual leave in the period between the expiration of the maternity leave and the expiration of the leave year. For example, a pregnant employee may start her maternity leave slightly earlier (but not sooner than 11 weeks before the expected week confinement) and then take her annual leave immediately after her period of maternity leave."

found here

Also point him at the Business Link tool - it works it all out for him....

Again, very helpful. More ammo!

Thanks nicki

Another place that he may find useful as he can phone and get advice for free is the ACAS helpline and website. You can call too if you need to.

Their number is 08457 47 47 47.