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?

You ‘excellent’ employee sees you as a soft touch, and your ‘cold hearted’ manager’s seen the truth.
She wants to quit but doesn’t want to pay the money back.
Doesn’t matter if you’ve known her 10 years people are nice until it suits their interests to be manipulative.

Reply confirming there will not be any redundancy on offer and the leave needs to be repaid.

Exactly this.

She's decided not to come back, for whatever reason, has problem known it for longer than she's letting on, but continue to spend the money her employer was paying her expecting her to come back.

She needs to pay it back or come back and work long enough to cancel the obligation to pay it back. Then she can resign.

@BlueOverYellow

Reply confirming there will not be any redundancy on offer and the leave needs to be repaid.

Exactly this.

She's decided not to come back, for whatever reason, has problem known it for longer than she's letting on, but continue to spend the money her employer was paying her expecting her to come back.

She needs to pay it back or come back and work long enough to cancel the obligation to pay it back. Then she can resign.

Don’t reply except to say that the matter is out of your hands and send all her emails on to HR. She might be having a tough time and I feel sorry for her if that is the case but she is trying to get out of legal obligations that she agreed to when she signed her contract/ agreed to the terms of her maternity leave, and she is fully aware of it.

Yes exactly @godmum56 - we have to operate within the policies. But my suggestion of speaking to the employee about parental leave (as per the policy) was rather snippily responded to by another poster who though that the op should 'just give it to HR'.

I was pointing out that where I am (and where op is as it turns out) it's the line manager that deals with HR issues. And therefore the MN refrain of 'give it to HR' is almost as useless as the famous 'log it with 101' advice.

Your update does change things op - surely your employee must understand that she can't be made redundant if her job is still actually there!

[quote Beurre]@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.[/quote]
no shit sherlock?

And this is exactly why you need to not let emotions get involved with work.

For whatever reason she doesn't want to come back, and doesn't want to repay the maternity pay.

Update: had a long chat with HR, discussed options of parental leave as per policy etc. They more or less said 'make your decision, and tell us'. Our head is on AL till next week but she made it very clear she will not support any unpaid parental leave. I can't force this employee back to the office but I feel that we're denying her her rights.

I was definitely naive about this whole situation - why would she mention redundancy when this isn't an option for her unless it was to avoid paying back enhanced maternity pay. According to a colleague, the public sector hardly takes legal action to recover maternity payments. Really??

Well all you can do is let her know that a) redundancy isn't an option because the role isn't being made redundant; b) she can apply for a short period of parental leave, and attach the policy, although you cannot guarantee that would be approved given the lack of notice, or c) she can resign but would have to pay back her enhanced pay. There are no other options if she doesn't come back. And leave it with her. Obvs if she does apply for parental leave and your boss denies the application then you have to go back to HR, but wait till that happens if it does.

I can't force this employee back to the office but I feel that we're denying her her rights.

What a strange thing to write.

You don't need to 'force' her back and how are you 'denying her rights'?

If I was in this situation, and I've managed similar, I would be sympathetic but clear.

I would outline her options, including ensuring she feels fit for work. If she indicates she might not be, she needs to go to her GP, and ultimately Occupational Health may need to assess her. I can imagine anyone might be in a poor state mentally with these events, so it's absolutely legitimate, but is her choice.

If she is fit to work, you would then need to outline any other short term practical support you can offer, with a clear deadline, before she returns to work. In my workplace (public sector, not UK), it would include force majeure leave, using annual leave, parental leave, and we would have some discretion over limited unpaid leave.

Working from home would not form part of this, as it won't solve her issue, and won't allow her work effectively.

It does sound as if she is angling for something. You still haven't explained if she had given her notice to return, which would have indicated practical arrangements were in place? It seems so strange that it would all fall apart so significantly so quickly.

@Beurre I can't force this employee back to the office but I feel that we're denying her her rights.

What rights do you think she's being denied? She has the right to 9 months maternity leave paid at SMP rates and the rihht to return to her job after 12 months (or less if she chooses) and the right not to be discriminated against due to having taken such leave (eg being passed over for promotion). Additionally she has the privilege (not the right) of having pay that's higher than SMP if she does return to the job after 12 months.

She is getting all those rights. She does not have the right to swindle the tax payer out of her enhanced maternity pay and muck the team around by failing to keep her commitments. She doesn't have the right to demand that the job she left a year ago is actually kept open for her for 18-24 months rather than the statutory 12.

I can't force this employee back to the office but I feel that we're denying her her rights.

Unless getting unpaid parental leave is an automatic right at your workplace, then you are not denying her any rights. She hasn't requested it in the proper way, and it doesn't have to be approved anyway.
What exactly is the employee suggesting she wants to happen? Other than being made redundant (which can't happen)? If she wanted to find a solution she would be suggesting something.

@EarringsandLipstick

I can't force this employee back to the office but I feel that we're denying her her rights.

What a strange thing to write.

You don't need to 'force' her back and how are you 'denying her rights'?

If I was in this situation, and I've managed similar, I would be sympathetic but clear.

I would outline her options, including ensuring she feels fit for work. If she indicates she might not be, she needs to go to her GP, and ultimately Occupational Health may need to assess her. I can imagine anyone might be in a poor state mentally with these events, so it's absolutely legitimate, but is her choice.

If she is fit to work, you would then need to outline any other short term practical support you can offer, with a clear deadline, before she returns to work. In my workplace (public sector, not UK), it would include force majeure leave, using annual leave, parental leave, and we would have some discretion over limited unpaid leave.

Working from home would not form part of this, as it won't solve her issue, and won't allow her work effectively.

It does sound as if she is angling for something. You still haven't explained if she had given her notice to return, which would have indicated practical arrangements were in place? It seems so strange that it would all fall apart so significantly so quickly.

Oh, I don't know. My ex said he was going to look after DD to enable me to work right up until 10am the Saturday morning before I was due to start, when he announced with a shit eating grin on his face that he was leaving, none of the bills were going to be paid on Monday as he 'wasn't going to fund my lifestyle' and I would just have to go into a hostel when I couldn't pay the rent/give up the children when there was no money to buy food.

The only reason I kept that job was because I'd already realised he was an abusive tosspot who was quite capable of doing such things, so had stashed money away over the previous months to cover food and bills and booked a childminder. He thought that it would come out of the blue and I'd be, in his words, destroyed, by his announcement. I was just relieved that he was going.

He will not be the only abusive arsehole in the world.

Whilst you can be supportive OP, it's not up to you as her manager to sort out her childcare issues. Imagine if someone applied for a job, you offered it to them and then they told you they couldn't start as didn't have any childcare. What would you do then?

Approach her sympathetically, offer her the option of the 4 weeks unpaid parental leave and make clear she is expected back at work on such and such a date. If she then doesn't return then I imagine you start disciplinary proceedings. She may think she can get away with not paying back mat pay but she will require a reference in the future which will say she was dismissed

Whilst you can have every sympathy for the woman, If she can't sort childcare to enable her to work it is a problem for her and her family to sort out,it's not actually a problem for her workplace to sort for her.

@NeverDropYourMooncup

That's awful 😟💐

I too have an abusive ex (thankfully I held on to some kind of employment in the really shit years but yes, I get how they can so this & use it as a form of control).

In this situation, while probably totally dreadful for OP's staff member, she has some ability to make or propose a plan to / with OP. The event did not quite happen on the day of return.

Not easy for her of course, but she needs to be asking for what she needs, in a realistic way

For example, I've had many occasions when a member of my team has had personal issues, and once they tell me what they need, I can usually find a way to make it happen, special leave, adjusted work patterns & so on.

What I can't do is the impossible eg facilitate a staff member leaving & still retaining her mat pay or put in place a working arrangement that would be unsustainable for either / both employee / employer.

I think you’re being taken for a total mug.
If she can’t/won’t come back she needs to pay back the enhanced mat pay.
If she wants to come back she needs to get her arse in work or take unpaid parental until she can.
Those are her options. She is not being denied any rights. No one has the right to decide they won’t turn up for work and get paid for it.

For example, I've had many occasions when a member of my team has had personal issues, and once they tell me what they need, I can usually find a way to make it happen, special leave, adjusted work patterns & so on.

Exactly. If the employee had said "this has happened, I need a couple of weeks to source alternative childcare/get my head together" then that would be one thing. Saying "I don't know if I am going to come back, but you can make me redundant if you want" is sending out an entirely different message.

OP is trying to help her employee. I'm not getting the impression she wants to be helped.

@RedskyThisNight

For example, I've had many occasions when a member of my team has had personal issues, and once they tell me what they need, I can usually find a way to make it happen, special leave, adjusted work patterns & so on.

Exactly. If the employee had said "this has happened, I need a couple of weeks to source alternative childcare/get my head together" then that would be one thing. Saying "I don't know if I am going to come back, but you can make me redundant if you want" is sending out an entirely different message.

OP is trying to help her employee. I'm not getting the impression she wants to be helped.

It's likely that she's saying that because she's been told that she will be sanctioned for leaving her employment by choice or by being fired for not turning up, but if the employer 'makes her redundant', she will receive UC.

She still has to feed and house the child, after all. And 3-6 months without any income whilst she tries to get it sorted out would definitely play into the hands of an abusive ex if she has one.

It's likely that she's saying that because she's been told that she will be sanctioned for leaving her employment by choice or by being fired for not turning up, but if the employer 'makes her redundant', she will receive UC.

I thought you didn't have to work with a child under 3, to receive UC?

@RedskyThisNight

It's likely that she's saying that because she's been told that she will be sanctioned for leaving her employment by choice or by being fired for not turning up, but if the employer 'makes her redundant', she will receive UC.

I thought you didn't have to work with a child under 3, to receive UC?

True, but a) conflicting and inaccurate advice is a thing and b) it can take a very long time for the entitlement to actually be sorted out.

No, sorry, that's really making a leap Mooncup.

We don't know the individual's circumstances. However, it's equally likely that far from being in a situation of UC/ no pay whatever, she could avail of 4 weeks unpaid leave to make childcare arrangements and return to work.

It's absolutely crap for her, no doubt but having experienced an abusive ex, no money, trying to work with no help & 3 DC under 6, I still feel there are sensible ways to have the discussion with OP, which allows OP to help as much as possible.

We don't have to assume it's a really catastrophic scenario with no solutions.

I know you are trying to help OP, but I agree with everyone else, she doesn't want to come back and is twisting it so that you will have to get rid of her

If you are struggling to deal with it, then can HR step in?

Someone needs to tell her firmly, her options are

1. Return to work by X date
2. Resign and repay enhanced maternity pay

Df course you are not denying her any rights. Maternity leave is for a fixed period otherwise people could take as long as they like. Unpaid compassionate leave is at the discretion of the employer. This employee is beginning to sound more like a total chancer who has pulled the wool over your eyes. She wants to keep her money and not come back. Not on.

I'd have thought they'd agree to let her pay back the enhanced maternity pay in installments.

OP come on she sounds like a chancer, everyone knows you can't really work from home with a baby so it sounds like there was never a real plan to begin with.

I dont get the no childcare. If she's now single, she will get up to 80% childcare paid if she makes a UC claim