Employee refusing to come back to work from maternity leave

[Beurre]

I work in the public sector and manage a small team. One of my staff is due to come back from maternity leave next week and has just dropped a bombshell that she's unable to come back as her marriage broke down and she has no childcare. I feel really sorry for this woman as this is her first baby and have suggested to my head of department that we give her some parental leave ( until she secures childcare) given her circumstances. Sadly, my manager doesn't give a shit about anyone and is pushing me to put pressure on this employee to come back even though I know this is almost impossible. Anyone had a similar situation? Surely we can't force this employee to come back when she has no support and is on the verge of a breakdown?

@NumberTheory

I would emphasize this to your manager. You say she isn’t concerned with staff well being just service needs, so start talking her language. Tell her that failing to support employee will almost certainly lead to her leaving and that the costs and risks of hiring someone new are not worthwhile. That a few more months of the temp or of employee wfh until childcare is sorted is a sensible investment in a key resource whose value to the organization is proven.

Realistically, though, is the employee coming back? It seems quite doubtful and I think that's what the manager thinks OP is being very naive and emotional not to see.

I will call HR on Monday and get some advice.

Seems a bit late in the day to be doing this. I’d have thought if she was due back next week, this conversation should have happened by now. Why the delay?

@Beurre

The employee is due back next week. She's not telling me exactly what happened but I'm assuming the husband just walked out on her. I've known her for over 10 years and honestly don't doubt her when she says she wants to come back apart from this awful event in her life. We have a temp covering her post but she's not great hence my manager's determination to not extend her contract.

We're part of social services team, working with vulnerable famillies so it's really important that the employee is in a good place mentally when she returns.

I agree that this isn't really my issue to deal with but I want to be supportive.

the best way to be supportive is to get her the information that she needs about her options.

Realistically, though, is the employee coming back? It seems quite doubtful and I think that's what the manager thinks OP is being very naive and emotional not to see.

Realistically, as a single parent, unless it’s a shit job she probably has more incentive to come back now than she did before. And OP does think she wants to - just needs time to sort things out as her childcare plans have fallen through.

There is a need for some realism, but I think an assumption that a mother whose DH has just left will not want to return to work if she can get childcare is pretty bizarre.

@NumberTheory

Realistically, though, is the employee coming back? It seems quite doubtful and I think that's what the manager thinks OP is being very naive and emotional not to see.

Realistically, as a single parent, unless it’s a shit job she probably has more incentive to come back now than she did before. And OP does think she wants to - just needs time to sort things out as her childcare plans have fallen through.

There is a need for some realism, but I think an assumption that a mother whose DH has just left will not want to return to work if she can get childcare is pretty bizarre.

She is asking to stay off until September though… and realistically if OP thinks she might be “starting to look at places” now, no way will her child have a place and be settled in a nursery within the next four weeks. Even if she is deluding herself and honestly believes it might happen, it won’t.

If she was saying “ExDH has completely screwed me over, my DM can watch my child two days a week and I’m desperately looking for a childminder to cover the other days while we are on the waiting list for a nursery”, then ok maybe. But “I’m due back to work this week, and I’ve just started thinking about looking around a few nurseries” is cloud cuckoo land.

She is asking to stay off until September though… and realistically if OP thinks she might be “starting to look at places” now, no way will her child have a place and be settled in a nursery within the next four weeks. Even if she is deluding herself and honestly believes it might happen, it won’t.

If she was saying “ExDH has completely screwed me over, my DM can watch my child two days a week and I’m desperately looking for a childminder to cover the other days while we are on the waiting list for a nursery”, then ok maybe. But “I’m due back to work this week, and I’ve just started thinking about looking around a few nurseries” is cloud cuckoo land.

This doesn’t reflect the information OP has posted at all. OP has vaguely mentioned September as the date OP thinks nurseries will start having spaces. But they aren’t the only sources of childcare and the new mum hasn’t said she wants to be off that long. OP has described her as desperate to get back.

There are no details on what she’s doing but no indication in OP’s posts that she’s been lackadaisical about the need for childcare.

Even if waiting for September was the plan, hiring and training someone in many jobs would mean that there wouldn’t be much difference in hiring someone new and waiting for September in terms of having someone effective in place. Of course this job may not be complex, so maybe it isn’t the case, but when people leave my team it’s always 6-10 months before we can really count on a replacement making a significant difference to workload. So it could still make business sense especially since OP seems to think very highly of the mum’s work.

I'd want to know exactly what her plan is. She can't be off unpaid until September without what if she quits in august

Why would you be in bother @LittleBearPad? You can only advise her - I didn't suggest op guarantees that parental leave will be granted? All parents are entitled to ask for it so what's the issue?

@Changechangychange I didn't suggest not going to HR. I just pointed out that in some public sector jobs - like the one I'm in - the line manager deals with it so all this 'just give it to HR' commentary may not be all that helpful. If certainly wouldn't be in the civil service - as it doesn't work like that.

Looking after a 1yo baby/nearly a toddler is a full time job not something that either the WFH husband or your own team member can reasonably combine with a productive day of work. The idea that she could wfh until September is ridiculous. She's had her maternity leave. Her job has been held open for her for the required period and now she has to choose whether to return to work or resign. Yabu to be trying to facilitate her bending the rules. Maybe we should be campaigning for longer maternity leave and more rights for a flexible gradual return to the workplace but there's nothing about this woman to make her uniquely special that she deserves a better deal than anyone else. If you grant her a special deal then the next team member who goes off on leave will want the special deal too, and those who just came back when they were contractually obliged to will wonder why they didn't get the special treatment. Recipe for disaster.

[quote AnneElliott]@Changechangychange I didn't suggest not going to HR. I just pointed out that in some public sector jobs - like the one I'm in - the line manager deals with it so all this 'just give it to HR' commentary may not be all that helpful. If certainly wouldn't be in the civil service - as it doesn't work like that. [/quote]
But don't you still have to deal with it within the policies? You can only do what the rules say you can do? I was in a similar circ to you in the NHS and I would have been expected to access the policies, pass them to the employee and go through the options with her. Our HR department, the one we could access was very small and snowed under (big organisation) so managers were expected to operate the system but there wasn't any latitude to do things outside the policies.

@BoredZelda - I got the call from the employee after 4pm on Friday so really didn't have time to speak with HR.

@AnneElliott - similar to you, as a line manager I am expected to deal with most issues and HR is almost like a last resort. Out team leader is also a bit of a gate keeper and even when I told her about our parental leave policy, she was quite dismissive. Unfortunately most requests, including unpaid leave etc are often at the discretion of the team leaders and HR just agree.

I should add, I received an email from the employee this afternoon saying she's not in a position to pay back the maternity leave she was paid etc if she can't come back but she understands if she's made redundant as a result. I will respond to this once I have some guidance from HR.

She can't be made redundant if the job is still required. The more she writes the more cheeky it is becoming, not repaying omp and expecting a pay off. Have you filled her original role and offered equivalent or is the job still there for her? Is there a career break policy?

I got the call from the employee after 4pm on Friday so really didn't have time to speak with HR.

Wow. Well done for getting such a quick response from your manager in that case.

The employee will find she hasn't given enough notice to extend her leave.

@LIZS

She can't be made redundant if the job is still required. The more she writes the more cheeky it is becoming, not repaying omp and expecting a pay off. Have you filled her original role and offered equivalent or is the job still there for her? Is there a career break policy?

Agreed. She seems to think she’s going to get a payoff.

If the rules are she has to repay enhanced mat pay if she doesn’t come back then she owes the money. It doesn’t matter she can’t afford it.

@LIZS - we have a temp covering her post so her job is still available. We do have a career break policy but it's only approved when the request is for a minimum period of 12 months.

I don't want to make assumptions but after this email I'm starting to suspect this employee doesn't really want to come back.

I honestly think your team lead has the measure of her - she’s never had any intention of coming back, but is trying to avoid paying back her maternity pay.

Well she can't be made redundant as her job is still there.
Surely the organisation will take legal action to recoup the maternity payments if she doesn't return?

@Changechangychange

I honestly think your team lead has the measure of her - she’s never had any intention of coming back, but is trying to avoid paying back her maternity pay.

This! With the new email she has sent, I do not think she has any intention of coming back and is trying to manipulate the system to avoid paying her maternity pay back and is under some misguided impression that she could be made redundant

I do think you are being hoodwinked here - agree with others that you can explore what options are available to her but she has to lead these and she needs to be clear about her expected date of return and the consequences of her failing to return and not having any other provision (eg sickness, unpaid leave) in place - i.e. being AWOL which would be unpaid and potentially disciplinary.

She's angling for a redundancy package but it doesn't work like that. The post that she holds is the post that was held open for her and she can return to it at the end of maternity leave. If she doesn't want to return she needs to resign.
The post is not redundant. If she doesn't resign then it becomes a disciplinary matter for unauthorised absence. You'd need HR to help manage that procedure which would require you follow all the steps through to a final written warning that she is required to abide by her contract and do her job and no she doesn't get to dictate her own terms like combining work with SAH childcare. If she doesn't then buck her ideas up and start doing her job properly then she can be sacked, no redundancy payout, and then it would be a process of obtaining a CCJ requiring her to pay back the dishonestly retained enhanced maternity pay. Probably at a very slow repayment rate.

I dnt think ur manager is a bell head. She can't just be off work and expect to be paid. She has to either sort child care or leave and pay back maternity pay. This is informative shes known from the start as it's part of the forms you fill in when getting ready for may leave.

Presumably she gave her six weeks notice of returning and negotiated to use her leave on top. Has everything really fallen apart in the interim? She is not helping her situation by expecting the company to come up with a solution to her problems, however sympathetic a manager you are. That needs to come from her with hr giving the possibilities. A payoff is only a temporary solution, if she is being straight with you. What happens when that runs out, even assuming it were possible.

The very fact that she didn't contact you until 4pm on Friday, let alone the subsequent email, does heavily suggest she has no intention of coming back. She's making it as difficult as possible for you to come up with any solutions, whereas if she wanted to come back she would be making suggestions! I'd still suggest trying to work with her - perhaps offering a couple of weeks to come up with childcare. But then she needs to resign, or you need to follow your disciplinary process for unauthorised absence. And she needs to pay back the maternity pay. I appreciate this is a horrible situation for her, but she has lost my sympathy by the way she's handled it.

[quote Beurre]@BoredZelda - I got the call from the employee after 4pm on Friday so really didn't have time to speak with HR.

@AnneElliott - similar to you, as a line manager I am expected to deal with most issues and HR is almost like a last resort. Out team leader is also a bit of a gate keeper and even when I told her about our parental leave policy, she was quite dismissive. Unfortunately most requests, including unpaid leave etc are often at the discretion of the team leaders and HR just agree.

I should add, I received an email from the employee this afternoon saying she's not in a position to pay back the maternity leave she was paid etc if she can't come back but she understands if she's made redundant as a result. I will respond to this once I have some guidance from HR.[/quote]
Reply confirming there will not be any redundancy on offer and the leave needs to be repaid.

Your head of department nailed this at the start tbh, you need to be firmer because she's not coming back and it's not fair to give her false hope.

I should add, I received an email from the employee this afternoon saying she's not in a position to pay back the maternity leave she was paid etc if she can't come back but she understands if she's made redundant as a result.

Well she doesn't have much choice does she, and she won't be made redundant as the position still exists. I suspect your manager was actually more spot on- she just doesn't want to return but doesn't want to return the money she's contractually obliged to.