please help do you acrrue holiday while you are on maternity leave?

[mustsleep]

Hi

I have just returned to work after taking my maternity leave, I have been back about 4 weeks

I have just found out that I have no childcare for this week and can;t go into work, I went in this morning with the kids and said I was sorry and that I would take it as holiday, the lady in the office says to me, you won;t be able to take all that holiday at once you've only been back a couple of weeks

I said no I'm sure you accrue holiday while you are on maternityy leave, and she was like no you;ve only been back for 4 weeks so you'll have only accrued 1 1/2 days so far!!

Is this right I thought that I would accrue holiday from April even though I was on maternity leave, or am I being really dumb

Im pretty sure you do.

Someone will confirm soon

thanks I got a bit arsy with her cos I am positive I;m right - might have to print something off the tinterweb and take it with me!

You absolutely DO accrue holiday when you're on Maternity leave - you retain all your previous employment rights except renumeration. I am taking 47 weeks Maternity and bumping it up to 52 weeks off in total by adding on 25 days holiday, which I have accrued during those 47 weeks. And that is not just my employer - it was the same with a previous employer last time.

This woman is wrong. You need to speak to HR / management and get it confirmed in writing so you don't lose out.

I think if you type that into google it will take you to the government website that has loads of info about it.

thanks so if I started my mat leave in August last year and took all 4 weeks of my holiday from last years holiday entitlement, then came back to work in June for a month I am more than entitled to take a weeks holiday?

And will get my full holiday entitlement for this year too?

I think it would depend on how much holiday you get, and when the holiday year runs from where you work, eg 1 April - 31 March, and when you have already taken holiday from. Can you carry over days from one year to the next? Have you used them all from the current year?

As far as getting full entitlement for this year - if you are back on the same hours/contract as before, your holiday should be the same as before. It is irrelevent whether you were working in the office or at home on Maternity Leave - you are still employed and therefore accure your holiday as normal. If you could normally take a week's holiday before accruing it then you still should be able to eg if your holiday year starts in April, can you take a week off in May or do you need to wait until you have worked a couple of months to build up a week's hols before you take it?

Sorry, have just read this back to myself and it's a bit confusing!!

Try the CAB website, I think they explain it a lot more clearly than I can!

I will accrue holidays whilst on maty leave - but am only able to carry forward 5 days from one annual leave year to the next, so have to use most of this years allocation before I go off.

thanks I think what you have just said is my understanding of it!
just going to check that CAB website now then, cant find anything on the government website about accruing holiday

I am normally entitled to 20 days holiday and then however many bank holidays there are

The holiday year is from 1st April till 31st March

I think I am going to call HR myself just so I can see if she actually does it or just makes out that she is right and hands in my absense form that she made me fill out "just incase" Hr said I was wrong

Yes, you continue to accrue holiday during maternity leave exactly as normal. Whether your employer will allow you to take holiday at such short notice is obviously up to them, but you certainly accrue it.

See here all about benefits and holiday during maternity leave. You will see that if your due date was before 5 October 2008, depending on how much holiday you get, you might not get all of it for the whole of your maternity leave, but you do certainly accrue holiday.

Just rang Hr and the lady there was really nice

She said of course you are entitled to all your holiday let me check yes you still have it all to take

and then she said she shouldn;t even be telling you that you need to accrue the holiday you get your full entitlement at the beginning of the year and if you leave half way through the year we take it out of your time in hand that you have worked!!

HA HA

thanks everyone!!

you do accrue it.

BUT that doesn't mean you can go getting arsey and telling your boss you will be take your holiday next week! if you have no childcare then they may give you the time off unpaid, that would be normal. and holiday should be booked in advance. they may prefer you to use up your accrued holiday in this instance to get it out the way, but being arsey won't help your cause.

I agree with ruddynorah. It's relatively new legislation, so getting 'arsey' with someone who doesn't work in HR and therefore doesn't know isn't the best way to get her to approve your holiday request imo!

thanks it wasn;t that she wouldn't approve the request it was that she was insistant that I wouldn't be entitled to any holiday at all!!

Ii practically had to beg her to call HR and I honestly don;t think that she will!

I know that I am asking for it as short notice but I can't go in - and I though that they would prefer me to just take it as holiday, but it's not the fact the holiday request is being refused it's that it won't even be considered iykwim

didn'y mean to offend anyone!! and when I say arsey I mean just standing my ground when she is telling me infront of loads of people that I am wrong

is it new then? I thought that you always accrued holiday when you were on maternity leave....

I have a seven and a three year old and I'm sur eit was the same then

Relatively new. It's only been since last October that you've accrued contractual benefits including holiday through the whole of your maternity leave. Can't remember off the top of my head when it first came in that you got holiday at all during maternity leave but certainly not that long ago, and perfectly forgiveable for a manager not to be aware.

I know I accrued holiday when I was on maternity, and my boy is eight.

she's not the manager! She deals with everything from holiday to maternity etc - the same woman who laughed at me when I asked for a risk assessment when I was pregnant and basically refused to do one

Does it matter whether she's the manager or not?! It's obviously her you need to book holiday with, so regardless of what her job title is, if you want her to approve holiday at such short notice, being arsey probably isn't your best bet, that's all.

It's very recent that women have been entitled to contractual holiday during all their maternity leave - last year as I say.

It came in gradually, starting with basic statutory holiday quite a while ago, then more recently contractual holiday during the first part of maternity leave, then last year contractual holiday during the whole of maternity leave. Prior to that the position wasn't clear and was being explored through case law so many employers erred on the side of caution and gave holiday during maternity leave anyway.

Given maternity benefits have changed so much, and so frequently, it's perfectly acceptable for someone not to know about it and need to check.

Refer other post about the Stringer case - yes you accrue hols and now not even a restriction on carry over!!

I think you need to use your week off to get your childcare sorted out! You have to have something robust in place or you will drive yourself mad - is it a childminder, nursery or family/friends that you are using?

Hi it's normally my mum that has them but she is on her hols for a fortnight and MIL insisted that she was fine to do it but after the first week didn't look too well!

Thanks everyone anyway

went in the day after and she told me that she hadn;t been able to get in touch with anyone as there was noone in that deals with this so I said ok I'll come back tomorrow...came back on Thurs and she said to me right I have spoken to personnel and they have said because you are termtime only you are not entitled to any holiday pay at all.....err no I;m not termtime only...yes you are ....no I;m not I normally work all the hols and in the three years I have been here I have worked the hols and been able to take holiday......right then well you are not entitled to any holiday pay cos you are part time!!!!

No that can;t be right I;ve spoken to someone myself and she said I was entitled to all my holiday this year!! Well you're not.....

called the lady in payroll again and explained it all again and she got in touch with personnel and called me back.. apparently office lady had called personnel and told them I was termtime only and so they had advised on that basis...but once called up by payroll looked at my file (or whatever) and said yes I am infact right and she called office lady to tell her so

Got an apology this morning as she had basically called me a liar infront of everyone we work with and a lot of the parents and yes I will get my weeks holiday

talk about hard work lol

although imo she should have said when I told her I wasn;t termtime only "oh sorry, I'll go back to personnel again then" not just oh well you're parttime it;s the same thing which is what she said!