Is it an unwritten rule that you don’t take the annual leave you accrue on maternity leave?

[ForSnugLimeExpert]

I will preface by saying I do sometimes struggle with understanding unspoken rules or to recognise when people don’t mean what they say.

I came back from maternity leave towards the end last year, and asked HR if it was possible to carry over the leave until this year. I also asked my manager if he had a preference for how I took the leave, and he said, no, to take it however I wanted. I had also asked this before I went on leave and got the same response.

So I didn’t take any leave last year as I wanted to hit the ground running a bit, and instead have asked to take every Friday off for a while. My manager approved this, all good, and I’ve enjoyed having a bit of time to get various errands done.

Except he’s now told me there’s been ‘pushback’ on this and it is not company policy to allow it all to be carried over. But as I have in writing from HR that I could, it will be upheld.

I’m pretty gutted because I am really aiming to be promoted at work and I feel like I’ve missed an opportunity to show that I’m dedicated. Or that I’m being perceived as taking the piss by asking for the time off.

If I had been told that it wasn’t really the done thing to actually take the extra leave, I would have been disappointed but at least I would have known.

I was paid some of mine instead of taking it all as they wanted me back so didn't want me to wait any longer before returning as I had 12 months plus 5 weeks leave before I went back. That could be an option. Losing leave is not ok.

Of course you should take your leave!

You asked to carry it over and this was approved.

When I returned from Mat leave, I asked to use my acrued leave in a particular way and it was refused - fair enough. But I still got to use the leave in another way!

Any company saying there is pushback on something they have approved are just being quite stupid.

I’ve never ever ever heard anyone be pressurised not to take their leave or it to be frowned upon for maternity leave accrual to be rolled over; your boss sounds like an idiot and needs to be careful as exposes them to a discrimination claim. Don’t apologise, just ignore his pressure and say, legally I’m entitled to roll it over and will be doing so.

My work made me add it on to the end of mat leave. I wouldn’t have been happy to surrender it completely. I was fine to take the old leave when they wanted and start using the new leave as normal

I took all my annual leave at the end of my maternity. I was on leave until end of October, then took 5 weeks full paid leave. Returned in December. Annual leave allowance started again in January.

If company policy is no leave or only 5 days can be carried over then of course they have to let you if maternity ends on 31st December or into the next year but if earlier then it's at their discretion. I wouldn't over think this though.

Absolutely not. I used mine for extra leave before returning to work when my maternity leave ran out. Maternity leave was shorter when I had DC so I don't know if ideas are different now.

They should have informed you of policy at the time of your return of course and I'm sympathetic to them as you had over 3 full months to take it.

I'm not allowed to carry over annual leave and in cases of maternity leave, accrued annual leave is added to the end

I manage quite a few staff who have been on Maternity Leave.
It’s absolutely your right to take your accrued leave and there are no unwritten rules.
I encourage mine usually to tag it on the end of their ML. That way they get longer with their baby.
if they carry forward then I find they have too much leave to take the next SL year.

I do have too much leave to take tbh but I would have also had too much to take from Sept-Dec last year if I’d tried to cram the years worth in that! Doing one big block wasn’t ever an option I wanted (though would have done if it was made clear it was preferred)

you sound like a good boss!

Fuck all unwritten rules, givens and expectations. If the policies say you can do it you can do it, if they say you can't do it you can't.