MNHQ here: post your pregnancy & maternity work questions here for FREE legal advice from Maternity Action

[RhiannonEMumsnet]

Free online advice clinic Monday 18th May to Wednesday 20th May.

Mumsnet and Maternity Action are once again teaming up to provide an online legal clinic, offering free advice on pregnancy, maternity and parental rights at work from volunteer employment lawyers who are members of the Employment Law Association.

Whether you have a question about maternity leave and pay, your request for flex work, your rights as a pregnant worker, or think you may have been discriminated against by your employer because of pregnancy or maternity leave, this is the place for you.

The clinic takes the form of a Q&A on this thread and will run from Monday 18th May to Wednesday 20th May. The Maternity Action team will do their best to provide all answers during that time and at the latest by Friday 22nd May. More information on where to go for more help once the clinic has ended is here.

How it works:
If you have a question about your rights at work during pregnancy, maternity or parental leave, post it below before 5pm on Wednesday 20th May. Please give as much information as possible but remember that this is an online forum and can be viewed by the public – including your colleagues and employer. Please don’t name your employer publicly if you are likely to be taking action against them in future.

Please send your name and the name of your employer by private message to MaternityActionfreeadvice so that it can be passed on to the volunteer who will answer your query to do a conflict of interest check. All names will be confidential and will not be posted on the forum. We cannot answer your query until you have sent this information.

Once your advice has been posted online, you will have an opportunity to provide feedback. This helps us to find out whether you found the advice helpful, whether it helped you to resolve your situation at work and some information about you. All survey responses are anonymous and confidential. Providing feedback will help us to see what improvements can be made in developing this type of online free legal advice clinic. Fill out the survey here

Ts and Cs – please read

The advice provided to an individual poster is based only on the information provided by that poster. Advice on this thread is also particular to the individual who has asked for it and is likely to be specific to that person’s situation. A poster may have provided further relevant information by private message which will not appear on this thread. So please take care if you choose to apply that advice to your own situation - it is recommended that you first take legal advice from one of the sources we have suggested here.

Mumsnet, Maternity Action and Maternity Action's volunteers accept no liability for any loss suffered as a result of an individual choosing to follow advice provided to another poster's question on the thread.

The lawyers, all of whom are specialists in employment law, will be working as volunteers for Maternity Action in respect of the clinic. Any personal information collected as a result of the clinic will be held by Maternity Action and will be deleted after 18 months. If you wish to make a complaint about the service you received, you can click here

Good afternoon everyone!

We are here ready to answer your pregnancy and maternity legal queries!
Just a reminder to send your name and the name of your employer by private message to MaternityActionfreeadvice after posting your query here, so that it can be do a conflict of interest check. This information will remain confidential.

Thanks!

I am (was) a registered nurse with the NMC and currently on maternity leave. I have obviously been busy and missed a direct debit and my registration as a nurse has been suspended for this reason alone
I was paying in instalments (its 120 a year fee to practice as a nurse) but I might have to pay the full year upfront to get back on the register.
I can't really afford to pay the full amount as im on stat mat pay as it is
Im tempted to leave it until I'm about to go back to work...after all, im not practicing right now, but my partner is worried the private company i work for as a nurse might stop my maternity pay if they find out.

Sorry to clarify missed a DD when I changed my banks

Hi

Just a reminder that if you have a question about your rights at work during pregnancy, maternity or parental leave, just post it below before 5pm on Wednesday 20th May

Thanks!

Hi,
I returned from maternity leave recently, and within the first two weeks I became aware that I did not have a clearly defined role or area of responsibility. Since then, I have raised this lack of role clarity multiple times with my manager, but this has not been resolved. I was initially told that my role would come together organically over time. When I raised it more seriously for a third time, I was given a piece of work, but since then my responsibilities have been inconsistent and made up of ad hoc tasks rather than a clearly defined mandate.
In contrast, my maternity leave cover has remained in the team with a clearly defined book of work and has not been subject to layering. Similarly, other individuals who have joined or returned to the team have had clearly thought-through roles and mandates as part of the team structure and recent reorganisation, and I do not feel the same level of consideration was given to my role.
Last week, without prior discussion, my manager changed my reporting line so that I now report into a peer. This individual is also a personal friend, which my manager is aware of. This decision was implemented while I was on leave, and I only became aware of it upon returning. My manager has indicated that the reason for this change was the lack of clarity around my role.
As a result, my role not being properly defined following my return has directly led to me being moved under another individual, rather than being given a clearly scoped position like others. My manager has been clear that he wants only individuals with defined areas reporting directly to him, and because I was not given one, I have effectively been pushed under someone else without a standalone role. This is also reflected in how I have been treated in senior leadership meetings — during roundtable updates I have been consistently overlooked, which demonstrates that I am not seen as owning a defined area and reinforces the fact that I have effectively become invisible within the team.
I am also uncomfortable now reporting into a former peer, particularly as this person has access to my personal and professional information, and my manager was aware of our pre-existing personal relationship when making this decision.

I don't know if im reading too much into this or is there a genuine issue at play. I work for a large corporation.

Thank You

Hi,
I returned from maternity leave recently, and within the first two weeks I became aware that I did not have a clearly defined role or area of responsibility. Since then, I have raised this lack of role clarity multiple times with my manager, but this has not been resolved. I was initially told that my role would come together organically over time. When I raised it more seriously for a third time, I was given a piece of work, but since then my responsibilities have been inconsistent and made up of ad hoc tasks rather than a clearly defined mandate.
In contrast, my maternity leave cover has remained in the team with a clearly defined book of work and has not been subject to layering. Similarly, other individuals who have joined or returned to the team have had clearly thought-through roles and mandates as part of the team structure and recent reorganisation, and I do not feel the same level of consideration was given to my role.
Last week, without prior discussion, my manager changed my reporting line so that I now report into a peer. This individual is also a personal friend, which my manager is aware of. This decision was implemented while I was on leave, and I only became aware of it upon returning. My manager has indicated that the reason for this change was the lack of clarity around my role.
As a result, my role not being properly defined following my return has directly led to me being moved under another individual, rather than being given a clearly scoped position like others. My manager has been clear that he wants only individuals with defined areas reporting directly to him, and because I was not given one, I have effectively been pushed under someone else without a standalone role. This is also reflected in how I have been treated in senior leadership meetings — during roundtable updates I have been consistently overlooked, which demonstrates that I am not seen as owning a defined area and reinforces the fact that I have effectively become invisible within the team.
I am also uncomfortable now reporting into a former peer, particularly as this person has access to my personal and professional information, and my manager was aware of our pre-existing personal relationship when making this decision.

I don't know if im reading too much into this or is there a genuine issue at play. I work for a large corporation.

Thank You

To clarify, when I refer to leave in the context of being layered, i mean annual leave.

Good Evening,

I went on maternity leave, then I went back to work. I did a course for a week, and back to my normal
location for 3 days. Now I am currently off sick from 7th March with postpartum anxiety. GP gave me fit note dated until 17th July.

I have had three long term sick meeting with them, and in the third meeting, my manager states that the next meeting with be a “final review meeting” to discuss in front of a panel if I should be dismissed or not.

I have made attempts to seek help from my GP, the perinatal mental health team, and see a therapist. Occupational health also assessed me and sent a report to my employer which explained I was showing signs of severe depression and anxiety.

What do I do? Can they dismiss me? I feel as though I am being treated unfairly

I have chosen to split my maternity pay equally over 12 months (NHS). If I choose to return to work earlier, will I get the last month of pay early?

If I wanted to give my husband a month of my leave as shared parental leave, during what would normally be my unpaid months, how would that work? Would he then be unpaid? Would he just earn the amount I would have received?

Dear Goodiebagh

Many thanks for your query.

First and foremost, once you have qualified for statutory maternity pay (SMP), there are only very limited circumstances in which you can lose it and the suspension of your registration, even if it resulted in the termination your employment, would not impact your entitlement (unless you started a new job within the SMP period). If your employer does not pay the full SMP you are entitled to you can claim it through HMRC Statutory Payments Disputes Team: https://www.gov.uk/find-hmrc-contacts/statutory-payment-dispute-team

The situation may be different if your employer provides any enhanced maternity pay over and above your statutory entitlement, and you should check your contract of employment/any relevant policies for further information on your employer's terms and conditions for their enhanced maternity pay.

You should check your contract of employment to see if there is any requirement to remain registered during your employment as you remain employed during maternity leave. With regards to the suspension of your registration itself, this is more of a regulatory law question and outside of our area of expertise in employment law. However, my strong sense is that it would be better to deal with the situation now rather than waiting until you are due to return to work. This is clearly a mistake/oversight at worst so I would suggest that you contact the NMC and explain your situation, what happened and why. It will also be important to be transparent with your employer so that they are aware of the situation and understand that it was a mistake. You can offer to pay the missed instalment and to ensure that your direct debits are paid in the usual way going forward (actively checking that each month). It may be that you need to follow a readmission process but effective and prompt communication with the NMC and your employer is the most likely way to resolve the situation quickly and with minimum impact on you – it may be that you can simply re-activate your registration rather than have to apply to be readmitted but this is more likely the more promptly you deal with the missed payment.

I hope this is helpful and wish you all the very best.

Hi,

I am entitled to SMP from my employer (I am past the qualifying week) however I am planning to resign from my role imminently due to significant incidents within the workplace. I understand that my employer will still be liable for my SMP when I resign, however, would I remain entitled to SMP from my employer if they were to cease trading post my resignation, or will I need to then apply for Maternity Allowance?

Thank you.

Dear MrsFionaCharming

Thank you for your query.

Firstly, if you are considering returning to work early, you are required to give at least 8 weeks notice. You should check your contract/NHS maternity policy to see if your employer has a different notice period for early return.

You maternity pay consists of 39 weeks Statutory Maternity Pay, with the first 26 weeks topped up to full and half pay under the NHS maternity policy. The last 13 weeks of maternity leave is unpaid leave. Instead of being paid varying amounts over those 39 weeks and having 13 weeks unpaid leave, you have elected to have it spread over 52 weeks. If you are returning to work one month early, your employer (payroll department) will need to recalculate your monthly payments so that it is spread over 11 monthly payments, not 12 monthly payments. The total amount you receive will not change, but it will be divided by 11, not 12.

Shared parental leave is complex, it allows the mother to give up some of her maternity leave and/or pay to enable her partner to take it as shared parental leave/pay. In order to do this you must give your employer at least 8 weeks' notice to curtail (reduce) your maternity leave and/or pay. Your partner must give at least 8 weeks' notice to his employer to take shared parental leave and any pay he is entitled to. He will need to check he is eligible.

He should check his employer's policies to see if they provide any enhanced shared parental pay. If not, he would only be entitled to Statutory Shared Parental Pay (if you give up some weeks of SMP) or he would only be entitled to unpaid shared parental leave if you give up some weeks of unpaid maternity leave.

If you want to take 48 weeks (approx 11 months) of maternity leave, you must give your employer at least 8 weeks' notice to return to work early. This curtails your maternity leave and your partner can taken any untaken leave as shared parental leave. Your partner's entitlement to shared parental leave is 52 weeks of leave minus any weeks of maternity leave taken by you. His entitlement to Statutory Shared Parental Pay is 39 weeks of pay minus any weeks of SMP taken by you. If you are taking the full 39 weeks of SMP there will be no pay to transfer to your partner.

There is more information on how to plan and give notice for shared parental leave on the ACAS website here: https://www.acas.org.uk/shared-parental-leave-and-pay

I hope that helps.

Dear PinkHouse95

Thanks for your query. Once you have qualified for SMP you are entitled to be paid it for the full 39 week period (unless you start working for a new employer within the 39 week SMP period). If your employer goes into liquidation or stops paying your SMP you can claim it from HMRC Statutory Payments Disputes Team and you should call them on 0300 322 9422: https://www.gov.uk/find-hmrc-contacts/statutory-payment-dispute-team
HMRC will pay any outstanding SMP directly if your employer fails to but it can take some time to go through their process.

You must give your employer the correct notice for SMP and give them your MATB1 maternity certificate. You can check your qualifying dates on the gov.uk maternity pay calculator here: https://www.gov.uk/maternity-paternity-calculator You must enter the due date that is stated on your MATB1 for calculating your SMP entitlement, not the date of birth.

You can only claim Maternity Allowance if you are not eligible for SMP.

If you are planning to resign you should give the notice period required by your contract. You can give notice during maternity leave and remain on maternity leave during this period. On resignation you are entitled to be paid for any accrued annual leave up to the date of termination of your employment. Your employer may pay any remaining entitlement to SMP in a lump sum on resignation. They are allowed to do this if they wish to.

All employers can claim reimbursement (and advance payment if they need it) to cover your SMP payments. You can send your employer this link for information on how to claim back your SMP from HMRC: https://www.gov.uk/recover-statutory-payments

I hope that helps and that all goes well.

Dear Anon946

Firstly, I am very sorry to hear that you have been having such a difficult time. I am pleased to hear that you have sought help from your GP and perinatal mental health team and would encourage you to continue to seek support.

Your legal position at this stage depends on whether your condition is recognised medically (and legally) as related to your pregnancy or childbirth or is separate from this. I note that you have described being signed off with postpartum anxiety. It is not clear to me if the OH report also recognises the link.

If your condition is recognised medically as linked to your pregnancy:
If you can show that your present health condition is pregnancy-related you may be able to argue that any move towards dismissing you is pregnancy/maternity discrimination. However, there is a protected period which ends when your maternity leave ends or applies to decisions taken during your maternity leave. It can be difficult to show that unfavourable treatment is because of pregnancy or maternity when it relates to events after maternity leave, but it does depend on the circumstances, whether you are considered to have a pregnancy-related illness and how long ago your maternity leave ended.

You may also be able to argue that any dismissal would be automatically unfair because it is on the basis of a pregnancy related illness, childbirth or maternity. This is a day one right and you do not need two years' service for protection against automatic unfair dismissal.

If your condition is not recognised as linked to your pregnancy:
Even if your condition is not medically recognised as being linked to your pregnancy, your employer must still act fairly and must follow the procedures and time frames in their sickness absence policy. Your employer can dismiss you if you are off sick for a long period and are unable to do your job, but they must approach the situation fairly. If you do not have a copy of your employer’s sickness absence policy, you should ask HR or your manager to send it to you.

On your facts, it does seem surprising that in just two months there has been discussion of a “final review meeting”, especially if there is potentially the prospect of you returning to work in July when your fit note ends. Your employer should ensure that they have explored your return before making a decision to dismiss you. If your employer dismisses you without following a fair process, as set out in their sickness policy, and if there is a prospect of returning with support in place, you may have a claim for unfair dismissal (if you have at least two years' service with your employer).

In view of the difficulties with a pregnancy-related discrimination claim, it is worth considering if you are aware of any cases where a male colleague on long term sick leave has been treated differently to you (i.e. given more time and support to return). If that is the case, you may be able to argue that dismissing you would be direct sex discrimination.

As your employer's sickness policy applies to all employees, dismissal for a condition that only affects women after childbirth may be indirect sex discrimination unless your employer can show that it is proportionate and justifiable. An employer may be able to justify a dismissal after long term sickness absence, however, it depends on the circumstances of each case and it is important for you to discuss with your employer any adjustments or changes to your hours that might help you to return to work.

As the OH report has assessed you to have signs of severe depression and anxiety, this may amount to a disability (a long term health condition which has a substantial impact on your day to day activities). If this is the case, you have the right to ask for reasonable adjustments to assist your return. A failure to make reasonable adjustments or to dismiss you because of a disability may be disability discrimination.

Next steps

If you have not already done so, I would suggest making clear to your employer that you consider that your current sickness absence is related to pregnancy or childbirth (and provide any evidence from your healthcare professionals that you are able to) and that you would not expect to be treated unfavourably in connection with that.

Subject to your current state of health, it may also be beneficial to consider how you see your route back to work. If you are able to have a meaningful discussion about a point in time when you can feasibly return (maybe on a phased basis) it may help to shift the discussion from dismissal to a future return. Your GP can provide a Fit Note that says you may be fit to return to work if certain adjustments are made. It may be helpful to talk through with your GP what that looks like as your GP can request specific adjustments on the Fit Note.

I hope that the above is a helpful starting point. The law in this area is complex, so it would be worth seeking further advice if you are dismissed so that you can discuss your situation in more detail. If you are dismissed, you can appeal the dismissal. If you wish to make a claim, there is more information on how to take it forward and time limits here: https://maternityaction.org.uk/where-to-go-for-more-help-legal-clinic/

Maternity Action has more information which may also be helpful for you as well as links to charities offering free help and advice on postnatal depression : Postnatal depression and depression during pregnancy – your maternity rights and benefits - Maternity Action.

Dear SeaMist7

Thank you for your query.

I understand that you have recently returned from maternity leave. Following your return you feel your role is unclear & diminished. You have raised this repeatedly informally with no success.
There has recently been a reorganisation in your team and you believe all roles save for yours have clear mandates and accountabilities. Your reporting line was changed whilst you were on maternity leave and you were not informed until your return. You are now reporting into a peer with whom you have a close personal relationship.

From a legal perspective, if you return to work before the end of your ordinary maternity leave period (first 26 weeks of maternity leave), you are entitled to return to exactly the same job on the same terms and conditions as you were doing immediately before your maternity leave. If you returned during this period and you were not given your old job back, you may have a claim for maternity discrimination. This is also the case if your role has been demoted or changed, your responsibilities have been given to your colleagues, or your maternity cover has been kept in your role and you have been disadvantaged because of your maternity leave.

If, however, you have returned to work during or at the end of additional maternity leave (more than 26 weeks’ maternity leave) you are still entitled to return to exactly the same job on the same terms and conditions as you were doing immediately before your maternity leave. However, if your employer can show that it is not reasonably practicable for you to return to the same job, you are entitled to be offered a suitable alternative job on similar terms and conditions.

Your employer must be able to show that it is not reasonably practicable for you to return to your old job – this is unlikely to be the case, for example, if your maternity cover is still doing your job. This may be where there has been a reorganisation or other business-related reasons why jobs have changed, which appears to have perhaps been the case here. It may be maternity discrimination if your role has been demoted or changed, your responsibilities have been given to your colleagues, or your maternity cover has been kept in your role and you have been disadvantaged because of your maternity leave. However it will depend on the specifics of the reorganisation, the impact on your role and how long ago you returned from maternity leave. The protected period for maternity discrimination ends when maternity leave ends but includes actions or decisions taken during maternity leave. It is important to keep a timeline of events and to consider what evidence you have to show that decisions were taken during and because of your absence on maternity leave.

As part of the reorganisation, if there had been a reduction in work giving rise to a redundancy situation, your employer should have followed a fair redundancy process and consulted with you (even if you were still on maternity leave). If your role was/is at risk of redundancy during your maternity leave and/or up to 18 months from the date you gave birth, you have the right to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy, if there is one, in priority over others at risk. It is unclear from your query whether your prior role was eliminated, and you were appointed into a new (less clear/diminished) role or whether your prior role remained (but with a new reporting line/ less clarity/standing) in the post reorganisation structure but I suggest seeking more information about what has happened during your leave.

Recommended next steps

I note that you have raised your concerns with your manager directly and this has not resolved the issue. Given that this remains unresolved I recommend setting out the ways in which you believe you have been sidelined, demoted and/or your role/standing has been diminished because of your absence on maternity leave. You can raise this more formally in writing or move to a formal written grievance (following your internal policy). I normally only recommend raising a grievance as a last resort as it is not always a very constructive way to resolve problems at work and maintain good working relationships. It is therefore important to be as specific as you can about what has happened and how you would like it to be resolved.

I suggest drawing comparisons with the level of clarity/impact/accountability you had in your role before your maternity leave. To the extent you weren’t consulted with or giving priority for vacancies in the restructure you should clearly set this out with a reminder of your employer’s legal obligations. If you perceive a conflict of interest with your new reporting line (depending on any conflict-of-interest policies your employer may have) or that it appears to be an effective demotion if you are now reporting to a peer, I also suggest raising this.

Finally, I recommend giving careful thought to what you would like the outcome to be – i.e. what do you want the company to do? Do you want a new role? If you are unhappy/see no workable resolution and would like to exit the company, you could consider requesting an “off the record” (so called, “without prejudice”) conversation seeking to discuss a potential settlement package for a value you would be happy with. For example, this could be based on compensation for reasonable loss of wages while you find a new job and for the upset and distress this has caused.

If you are unable to resolve it, I suggest seeking further legal advice on the merits of any claims. Please note that strict time limits apply. There is more information on how to take forward a claim here: https://maternityaction.org.uk/where-to-go-for-more-help-legal-clinic/

I hope that helps in taking it forward and wish you all the best.