Business aid: Maternity law

Ian Wilson of local solicitors Dean Wilson LLP answers questions on employment law. This week: Maternity Leave

I am frequently asked about maternity leave and thought it might be helpful therefore to set out some basic statements of the law as it now applies.
• Ordinary maternity leave is for a period of 26 weeks (with one or two exceptions).
• Additional maternity leave commences on the day after the last day of ordinary maternity leave and will be for a further period of 26 weeks, making a total of statutory maternity leave of 52 weeks.
• If the employee resigns before her additional maternity leave expires then it is deemed to terminate at the date of dismissal.
• An employee dismissed during maternity leave is entitled to a written statement for the reasons of dismissal without having to request one.
• During statutory maternity leave the employee is entitled to the benefit
of all the terms and conditions of employment which would have applied if she had not been absent except for remuneration.
• The employee is however entitled to non-cash “remuneration” during her statutory maternity leave such as life assurance, private medical insurance, use of company car, laptop or mobile phone, pension contributions, child care vouchers.
• The current view seems to be that holiday entitlement accrued during maternity leave can be carried forward into the next year.
• By agreement an employee can work for her employer up to 10 days during statutory maternity leave without bringing that leave to an end or extending the total duration of the period but this
will usually be without pay.
• Statutory maternity leave can only be taken by employees and not by other types of worker or self-employed people. An employee means an individual who has entered into a Contract of Employment whether oral or in writing.
• If the Contract of Employment
gives the employee greater or better rights than under the statutory system then the contractual provisions will usually be the ones that operate but that is up to the employee to decide. She may take advantage of whichever is the more favourable in any particular respect.
• However the contractual provisions cannot limit or restrict the statutory scheme and if they purport to do so then those provisions are void.