Maternity Leave/Pay Rights

[IrishMomOf2]

Hi,
Apologies in advance for the lengthy post... I'm currently 5 months into my maternity leave with my second child. My husband and I have recently made the decision to move our family from the UK to Ireland, primarily for family support reasons, and are hoping to move early next year. The company I work for are currently UK based but do have plans to open a Dublin office, although I'm not sure on timelines for this. Since Covid, employees in my department are only required to physically attend the office 1 day a month.
I have recently made my boss aware of this update and have asked if it would be possible to continue working remotely for the company from Ireland while maintaining my contractual obligations to attend the office in the UK once a month. This request has been rejected and my boss has alluded to the fact that the company might clawback maternity pay should I not return to work post maternity leave. I haven't suggested at any stage that I don't intend to return to work. My work have a great mat leave policy where I get full pay for 6 months. I obviously want to avoid any scenario where this has to be repaid. I have a couple of questions that I'm hoping someone can help me with:

1. Is an employer required to have a fixed period of time that you are required to "give-back" to the company after mat leave to avoid maternity pay clawback, or is there a reasonable period from a legal perspective?
2. Can my employer assume I'm not returning to work despite me not having submitted notice explicitly?

It follows what's in your contract.

It sounds like he was just making sure you were aware of the implications if you do resign so you can make informed choices.

Having employees working remotely from different countries exposes companies to many tax and legal complications, which is why most don't allow it.

Any conditions should have been stated upfront, on the letter you had confirming omp and leave. They are not obliged to allow you to relocate and continue working for them.

Thank you both for replying.

@tickticksnooze yes, I understand the potential tax and legal implications of working in a country where they don't have a base. I was hoping that they might consider it due to the opening of the Dublin office but it might be the case that timelines won't align...

@LIZS unfortunately my maternity policy is vague in that it just says it is at their discretion to reclaim any mat pay if I don't return to work.. but doesn't give any indication of the amount of time id have to give back if I wanted them not to claw back pay. I was just wondering if there is any min/max period from a legal perspective?

Speak to Maternity Action they're great at giving free legal advice and letting you know your rights while pregnant or on maternity leave.

@SpotlessMind88 brill, thank you. Will do.

Pregnant and Screwed may help. My own contract (public sector) said anything above statutory maternity pay had to be repaid unless you worked for 12 weeks after the end of your maternity leave.

When I was on mat leave in my last job, I also received 6 months full pay, but the OMP policy was explicit that I was required to return to work for a minimum of 6 months post mat leave, or the pay would be taken back. My employer at the time also gave people the option not to take the OMP element at all whilst they were off, but to receive it as a lump sum once they returned to work, to ensure they only received what they were actually entitled to. Bottom line is, you’ll need to approach HR at your company and ask them to explicitly state what the policy is. They can’t not have one.

The answer to both questions is no. The terms of your contract determine the circumstances in which they can claw back maternity pay. Your employer cannot assume you are not returning to work unless you say so.

Thanks all for your responses. Unfortunately my contract or the maternity policy doesn't explicitly state the length of time I would have to work post maternity leave for them not to claw back pay but I will speak directly to HR to get the details of their policy and take it from there. Thanks for the helpful advice on the free legal services that are available too.

Talk to HR and get in writing what period you have to return to work. Point out it is unreasonable for them not to be explicit.

Remember you will have accrued annual leave whilst on mat leave. If you take a full year that’s at least 5.6 weeks/28 days. You may be able to use this to eke out working the required period and your notice.