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| Mark Thompson, Associa |
Many businesses have been left holding the baby following April’s changes to maternity leave laws. Mark Thompson, an expert on employment law for small businesses at Associa Employment Service explains how firms can manage these new challenges. Many businesses have been left holding the baby following April’s changes to maternity leave laws. Mark Thompson, an expert on employment law for small businesses at Associa Employment Service explains how firms can manage these new challenges.
Many companies are starting to find themselves in an uncomfortable position. After a relatively easy incubation period, the government’s new maternity laws are causing some teething troubles.
New rights brought in on April 6, 2003 lengthened ordinary maternity leave to 26 weeks, regardless of how long a pregnant employee had worked for their employer. Many of you will be aware maternity leave entitles a woman to 26 weeks leave to give birth to and initially take care of her child, but how many of you know that some employees can actually be entitled to twice this amount?
Women who have been with their current employer for longer than 26 weeks by the beginning of the 14th week before their expected week of childbirth can also take additional maternity leave for a further 26 weeks though this is usually unpaid. However, you should check their employees’ contracts as this may entitle them to pay during the period of additional maternity leave.
There is an alos an issue with holiday allowance. A woman with 28 days holiday accrues 14 days when not in work and when she returns you have to accomodate this. So although it looks as though she will be available for 26 weeks of the total maternity year she will actually only be returning for mroe like 20 so take care to allow for this with your maternity leaver cover person.
The costs can soon mount up. A pregnant employee should be paid 90% of her wage for the first six weeks of her ordinary maternity leave and then 90% of her wage or £100, whichever is lowest, for the remaining 20 weeks.
Regardless of how tempting it may be to let a pregnant employee go to stop the bank manager screaming, the simple fact is a dismissal related to the fact an employee is pregnant is automatically unfair. So says section 99 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. A pregnant employee does not even need to have a year’s qualifying service to claim unfair dismissal.
An employee dismissed during pregnancy for completely unrelated reasons is entitled to an accurate written statement of reasons for dismissal. The employee does not have to request this statement. Failure to provide a written statement may also give rise to a claim for unlawful discrimination on grounds of sex.
Your headaches do not stop when an employee returns to work. The biggest change of April’s regulations is to flexible working. Employees who are parents of young children have the right to request to work flexible working patterns and you are required to give these requests serious consideration.
Furthermore, if you now fail to notify an employee when her maternity leave ends, the employer cannot dismiss or treat an employee unfairly for returning late. Any employer who has had proper notification of the intended start date for maternity leave from their employee should in turn notify their employee of the date on which her leave will end. This should be done within 28 days of receiving the employee’s notification.
However, there are ways you can soothe the costs and help the bank manager sleep at night. During the additional maternity leave period, the pregnant employee may not be entitled to benefit from her usual contractual terms, such as a company car or a company mobile telephone.
If you need to employ a temporary replacement, ensure they are employed on a future events contract – the future event being the return of the employee on maternity leave. Although you will still be paying both employees, you can claim back 92% of the cost. If your firm qualifies for small employers’ relief this rises to 100%, plus additional compensation for the employer’s portion of National Insurance Contributions. All of which means the cost of childbirth will be just a little easier to bear.
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