Hi All,
So I've been on furlough since April since the Covid-19 pandemic and it's been nice to relax a little. But I've also felt very anxious about whether or not I'll be made redundant. To top it off I sent my HR department my maternity letter with all the details I needed to include, along with my MATB1 form and made sure to CC in my manager on the 22nd of May - eight days before my qualifying week. Til this day I haven't heard anything yet and I've emailed to ask for a response and even spoke to the director of my department about it. She said she's not sure what my next steps will be and that they're trying to do right by all the mother's and expectant ones in the company, she'll let me know soon and to let her know when I have the baby. My furlough contract ends the end of this month and I thought I'd be bad at work by now as my role is quite vital and I'm the only person working, so I don't have a real team with me. For that reason I asked to start maternity leave on the 28th August with a week's holiday beforehand. The thing is I suspect that something isn't right as I got a couple of messages from a colleague basically saying that she'd been asked to start work again and was basically asked to do work that I usually do...then she started asking for advice because she's really not qualified to do it. I'm due mid September so I feel like since I was still technically employed by them come qualified week that they still need to at least confirm maternity pay? It's been way over 28 days. Have the rules changed a bit due to the coronavirus? Or should they have responded to me in a timely manner?
Thanks in advance!