Maternity Rights Explained.

A pregnant employee does not have to have 1 years continuous employment to be able to claim Unfair Dismissal.

Dismissal for a reason “connected” with pregnancy is automatically unfair.

The Employment Tribunal will interpret “connected” very widely.

As from 15.12.99

Women are also protected from any unfair treatment at work because of their pregnancy or childbirth, or their wish to take maternity leave.

Maternity Leave Latest updates.

Subject to Parliamentary approval, women whose babies are due on or after 6 April 2003, and their employers, will benefit from new simplified rights to maternity leave.

Start dates

Women whose expected week of childbirth (EWC) begins on or after 6 April 2003 will benefit from the new maternity leave provisions.

Women whose EWC is on or after 6 April 2003 will benefit from the new leave rights even if their babies are born earlier than expected.

The changes to maternity leave provisions will not apply to women whose EWC is before 6 April 2003, even if their babies are born later than expected on or after 6 April 2003.

Length of maternity leave.

The length of ordinary maternity leave will be increased and pregnant employees will be entitled to 26 weeks ordinary maternity leave, regardless of how long they have worked for their employer.

Ordinary maternity leave is normally paid leave.

Women who have completed 26 weeks continuous service with their employer by the 15th week before their EWC will be able to take additional maternity leave. Additional maternity leave will start immediately after ordinary maternity leave and continue for a further 26 weeks.

Additional maternity leave is usually unpaid although a woman may have contractual rights to pay during her period of additional maternity leave.

Notice of intention to take maternity leave.

A pregnant employee will be required to notify her employer of her intention to take maternity leave by the 15th week before her EWC, unless this is not reasonably practicable. She will need to tell her employer:

that she is pregnant,

the week her baby is expected to be

when she wants her maternity leave to start.

A woman will be able to change her mind about when she wants to start her leave providing she tells her employer at least 28 days in advance (unless this is not reasonably practicable).

There will be a new requirement on employers to respond to a womans notification of her leave plans within 28 days. An employer will need to write to his employee, setting out the date on which he expects her to return to work if she takes her full entitlement to maternity leave. A model letter for employers to use (if they wish to do so) will be available as part of future detailed guidance.

There will be no change to how early a woman is able to start her maternity leave – the earliest date will continue to be the beginning of the 11th week before her baby is due.

Returning to work after maternity leave.

There will no longer be provision for an employer to write to a woman before the end of her ordinary maternity leave period to ask the date on which her child was born and whether she intends to return after her additional maternity leave period. This means that a woman who intends to return to work at the end of her full maternity leave entitlement will not be required to give any further notification to her employer.

An employee who wants to return to work before the end of her maternity leave will need to give her employer 28 days notice of the date she wants to return to work.

Sickness trigger.

A womans maternity leave will start automatically if she is absent from work for a pregnancy related illness during the four weeks before the start of her EWC, regardless of when she has said she actually wants her maternity leave to start.

Other changes.

Statutory Maternity Pay and Maternity Allowance.

The Department for Work and Pensions will be making changes to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) and Maternity Allowance (MA). The most important of these increase the length of time covered by SMP or MA and increase the amount paid.

Women who are entitled to SMP or MA and whose EWC begins on or after 6 April 2003 will receive SMP or MA for 26 weeks.

Women who are entitled to SMP or MA and whose EWC begins on or after 6 April 2003 but who give birth prematurely, will still be entitled to receive SMP or MA for 26 weeks.

From 6 April 2003, the standard rates of SMP and MA will be increasing from the current £75 a week to £100 a week (or 90% of the womans average weekly earnings if this is less than £100 a week). There will be no change to the current earnings-related rate of SMP (90% of average weekly earnings) which applies for the first six weeks of the pay period.

The new standard rates apply from 6 April 2003 to all women getting SMP or MA at that point regardless of when they expect their baby, or whether they qualify for the new extended pay period. The current standard rate of £75 applies up to 5 April 2003.

When the changes are fully in place, women will either get:

SMP from their employer worth 90% of their earnings for 6 weeks, followed by 20 weeks at £100 (or 90% of earnings for the full 26 weeks if this is less than £100 a week).

Or

MA from their local Jobcentre Plus / Social Security office worth £100 a week for 26 weeks (or 90% of their earnings for 26 weeks if this is less than £100 a week).

Further information about the SMP scheme for employers is additionally available from your local Inland Revenue office.

Employers recovery of payments

Existing arrangements for employers to recover Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) will continue – employers are able to claim back 92% of the payments they make, with those eligible for small employers relief able to claim back 100% plus an additional amount in compensation for the employers portion of National Insurance contributions paid on SMP.

In addition, under the new arrangements, employers who need to, will be able to receive funding in advance for payments of SMP from the Inland Revenue.