Holiday entitlement after Mat Leave

[ReallyTiredMama]

I’m wondering if anyone can give me any clarification on what is right here?

My mat leave is due to finish on the 22nd July after being off for a year. Before I went off I was a full time employee, with the minimum holiday entitlement of 28 days. I’ve recently agreed with my employer that when I return I’ll do 2.5 days a week. The holiday year runs from January to December. I took all of last years holiday entitlement before my mat leave started.

I was under the impression that I would accrue holiday whilst on mat leave as per my previous hours until my new hours start in July. Therefore I would have accrued holiday as a full time employee until July, and after that the remaining entitlement would be pro-rata. My employer is trying to suggest that my holiday is pro-rata for the whole of this year.

Is she trying to pull a fast one on me or have I misunderstood? She can be a bit of a dick so I want to be sure that I’m right before I go back to her questioning what she’s saying.

You are correct, you accrue holiday at your old contract hours until your contract changes, plus back holidays that have fallen whilst you have been on leave.

This.

If you get stuck with your employer call ACAS for advice to how to deal with this

i don’t know what the law is but I feel a bit sorry for your employer tbh.

This

Why? It's the law

Why?

Thank you everyone!

Agree with the annual leave, but I don't think this is quite right for bank holidays. My understanding (may not be right!) is that you have the 8 day entitlement spread over the year. If going back to work at the end of July, you will have 7/12 x 8 = 4.6 bank holiday days "accrued" for this holiday year. That is assuming you used up all 8 of last year's bank holidays before starting your maternity leave. If you only used the 5 bank holidays up to July last year then yes you would expect to have the full 8 days to use now as you have accrued them over a full 12 months.

The bank holiday entitlement for the remaining 5 months of this year will be pro rated based on your new contract hours. So 5/12 x 8 / 2 = 1.7 days.

I believe that’s only relevant if you didn’t work standard Monday - Friday hours. As bank holidays then need to be prorated.

Why? Because positive working relationships depend upon a certain amount of goodwill on both sides. You’ve just had a year off, which you are entitled too, but obviously impacts your employer. Now you want to take what I’m guessing is another 5 or so weeks off over the last 5 months of the year, which is going to be quite a lot. Again you are entitled to it. IMO if you are one employee in a large company you should stick to your guns (eg cashier in large supermarket). But especially if you work for a small company or are the only one doing your job or you are hoping for promotion it is in your own interest to be a bit more flexible. You will undoubtedly need some time off when your dc has childhood illnesses and you need a bit of goodwill in reserve for this. You do need to show that you are needed and to think tactically and longer term if you are trying to build your career even if it is annoying!! You need to show that you are just as committed as you were pre-dc.

Why are you even trying to justify maternity discrimination? It's illegal. Any company big or small will lose out a hell of a lot more money in a lawsuit than just letting OP (& all staff) use the AL they are entitled too.

Not quite the same but when I was on mat leave we got a bonus. When I returned to work part time (17 hours) my manager said I had to pay half back. I got in touch with our union and they said they can't do that spoke to my manager on my behalf and it was cleared up.

I would imagine holiday pay would be the same. So any pay you accrued to the last day of mat leave is full time and after that it's part time.

Boymum - I’m not trying to justify maternity discrimination, I’m saying that sometimes, and depending on the situation, it might be more strategic NOT to claim everything you are entitled to.

For example when the dc gets a sickness bug and has to miss nursery and you really do need a day off. It may be worth showing a bit of flexibility to your employer in return for some on their part if/when you need it.

You will undoubtedly need some time off when your dc has childhood illnesses and you need a bit of goodwill in reserve for this

But surely having more annual leave would help with this? There’s no guarantee that giving up your entitlement will result in a nicer employer. You could just be worse off.

In that situation though you need lots of annual leave saved up! Much better than trying to get more leave to cover sickness at the time.

Exactly - clarify the situation but then don’t immediately book the time off.

OP - “Im entitled to xxxx time off, can I book in xxx (amount employee will he happy with)” then if you need the other bit you’ve got some wriggle room, and hopefully you won’t need it.

i do think we, and I’ve had my share of mat leave, need to take our entitlement but that we should be aware that it does impact others (and potentially us). Yes, we can say that the employer should just suck it up, get the unions in etc, but if we are talking about a few days after a year it’s not worth arguing about imo and possibly looking less willing / flexible hoping for promotion etc.

I’ve been in several situations where employers have been reluctant to employ mid 20s/30s women because they have had or already have an employee/s taking several year long chunks of mat leave - it’s just a fact that it’s really hard for small companies to manage. They don’t want to break the law and they support their staff with everything they are entitled to, but they wouldn’t risk having to do it again. When I had my first mat leave, 4 of us had started at the same time and all were pg within 2 years. After that no young women were employed for a few years!

I think it depends on how the contract is written.

If it’s 28 days including BH then I think you pro rate over the year.

If it’s 20 days plus BH then it depends on when the BH fall. So for this year NYD, GF, EM, MD and SBH all fall before 22/7 so are full time daily hours. ABH, XD and BD are pro-rata based on 2.5 days. Obviously you need to convert to hours.

If you work standard Mon-Fridays with bank holidays off you do not accrue them on maternity, if you have them added to annual leave and you can work them if you want/rota'd on then they are accrued.

@Meadowtrees

Every word of that is entirely contrary to UK employment law.

And frankly rather 1970s.

From ACAS

You still accrue (build up) your usual holiday entitlement while you're on maternity leave. This includes bank holidays.

From Citizens Advice

You shouldn't lose out on bank holidays while you're on maternity leave. You should build up the same number of days off as if you'd been working - including bank holidays.

You what?...

Yes, it probably does sound a bit 1970s but it was a nightmare for the employer!

You are entitled to pro rata holiday from 1st January to 21 July inclusive on full time hours, from 22 July to end December your holidays will be pro rara on your new part time hours.

Take absolutely no notice of folk worried about your employer, that's simply ridiculous. If they employ people they have to work within the law ... simple.

Can't believe some of the posts on this thread. Mind boggling.

Would they be saying the same if the employee had been off sick or on some other type of leave?

Of course you're entitled to your holidays! Settle for nothing less.

Absolutely don’t do this, I work for a small company (in a male dominated profession). I have always put extra hours in, etc etc. when my 1 year old was in hospital with sepsis they made me take the time off as unpaid leave. They said they were very sorry, but it was just policy. Fundamentally changed the way I see my company, and how they value me as a person. Take what you are allowed as in practice it doesn’t go two ways.