using hols before mat leave - pls help....

[Leannabanana]

hi there

we have just been given our new holiday for the year 23 days plus bank holidays...i will be going onto maternity leave beg oct half term [all being well] and will not return till next april - i therefore need to use all of my holiday entitlement before i go on maternity leave in oct right? As i will awarded next years holiday entitlement on my return in April....is this right?

hope you not as confused as i am.....

think all companies are different so check this with your HR dept, but this is how it usually works. you can either take the holiday you have accrued from in your case) April til you go on maternity leave in October or get paid for it instead. Then when you go on maternity leave you will keep accruing holiday. You can either plug this on the end of your maternity leave or get paid for it.

then when you go back to work in april you will start afresh with your new holiday entitlement.

i may have confused you more than you already were! i would sit down and have a no nonsense, no jargon chat with someone in HR because they have a habit of shafting you (that's what's happened to me anyway!)

Leanna - thats how it works with my employers. They do not pay for leave not used.

April to April, if you return from mat leave before the following april, you can take your leave when you get back as it is accrued (not in AML I don't think?), if you return after April, you have the leave to take prior to going on maternity leave, or lose it. New leave given from the following April.

I have the same, except I get 33 days leave (inc bank holidays) to take before Nov when I go on mat leave. Lovely!!!

Oh and I don't 'accrue' holiday under normal circumstances. I have my years quota and that is for the whole year. I could take it all now for this year if I so desired! (and if my boss let me!!!)

I also believe what you are saying to be correct. I'm starting my maternity leave on 20th April, and my holiday entitlement runs oct-sept. I have therefore had to use 21 days holiday from Oct 08 -20th April 09. I work in a building society which is closed on bank holidays, so I have been given an extra 3 days holidays entitlment to take before oct to cover the ones I would have been paid for anyway. If I return in Jan, they will owe me for the additional bank holidays from oct-jan on top of my full holiday entitlement for oct 09-sept 10. Its great really as I have been off work since 31st March, and don't start maternity till 20th April, as I'm using my holiday allowence up to give me a longer break before baby comes.

PS the company I work for doesn't ever give you anything extra, or something for nothing, so it must be government policy.

I used mine up for the month before DD was due. My mat leave started 2 days before she arrived So I had 13m off.

At the end of Mat Leave I went back 2 days a week with 1 day holiday which used up that years entitlement over a few months so I got a "Phased" return. I now do 3 days.

Legally you are entitled to accrue hols whilst on ML. How your employer asks you to take them is up to them. You do have to have the stat amount each year though because of working time directive rules. If you get more entitlement tham that they can reduce it when you are on Additional Leave but ime this is rare.

So - take as much as poss in advance, check if they will let you carry over any left if LO arrives early and take some before you return to work to make a phased return if poss.

Good Luck

ah thank you guys....i work for local government so hopefully they will be pretty good with all this stuff....but like you say i don't want to be shafted....