Ten Fantastic Suggestions About Your Rights On Maternity Leave
There was a time when a woman who was in a relationship could concentrate completely on the task of running a home and raising children, full-time jobs in themselves. Society and sometimes pure economics today play into this mix and dictate that most pregnant mums have to work. While most of the attention, quite rightly so, is on the pending arrival, you also need to be aware of your rights.
1. You are entitled to 52 weeks of maternity leave at a maximum. This entitlement is paid to you, regardless of whether you work on a full or a part-time basis, or how long you’ve worked for a particular employer.
2. Your maternity leave is divided into two categories and the amount of money that you receive from your employer is calculated accordingly.
3. The standard maternity leave ordinarily lasts for 26 weeks. You will be entitled to receive all your contractual rights during this period of time and to retain any perks such as a company car and your paid holiday earning ability. Apart from the payment that you receive, you will be treated exactly as if you were still working.
4. After the first 26, the following 13 weeks are known as “additional maternity leave,” but your contractual rights only apply in certain areas. Your notice period remains the same, your availability of redundancy pay is unchanged and your typical disciplinary and grievance procedures still apply.
5. Statutory rights are effective throughout the entire period of maternity leave, including the potential for another 13 weeks of leave, which is unpaid. You may not be discriminated against and must not be passed over in favour of another employee in the event of redundancy.
6. If you have 26 weeks of continuous service at the end of the 15th week before baby is due, you will qualify for what is known as Statutory Maternity Pay, or SMP. Statutory maternity pay is determined based upon a period of calculation – eight weeks up to and including the 15th week before baby is due. Your before tax earnings doing this period must have been at least
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