Holiday entitilement before maternity leave

[curlyclaz13]

I have already posted this in legal but hope to get more responses in here.
I am planning on taking maternity leave from June-Jan, work holiday year is Jan-Dec. My boss has told me I can only have 5 months worth of holiday before I leave and the rest when I return. But as this is after the end of the holiday year it means I have to carry unused holiday into next year.
I was of the understanding that I can take my holiday whenever I want (normally can and other colleagues do) and that holiday can not be carried over unless you are actually unable to take it.
I have printed off the info from the GOV. website and working time directive and given it to her but she has not acted on it and is now on holiday. Ideally I need something just in case she still says I am not right that is simple for her to understand and ideally specific to this situation.
I work in a small business so no HR dept and Boss owns the business, I am the first pregnant woman since she bought the business 25 years ago !

[Lotta1234]

Curly I think what your boss is saying sounds right for what my company do. You can take holiday that's accrued up to when you start maternity leave. You'll have worked 5/12 when you go on maternity leave. I think our company asks you to use all your leave up by that date. Then you return to work after ML you get a load of holiday you've accrued while on ML.

[Littlemissexpecting]

I thought the opposite I thought you were still legally entitled to your full allowance. I get 30 days and I'm taking it all before I go off so finishing at 32 weeks. Hopefully someone wiser will be along shortly

[MissKGF]

Am due early June & my holiday year runs from april-march. So I am entitled to take my full holiday entitlement before I go on maternity, meaning that I have lots of time off before I have to take SMP. then when I go back in March my holiday year will end &!my new holiday season begin again. You should be entitled to something similar depending on how many holidays you have taken so far. Clearly she is a little behind on HR, I would approach her again and make sure she is aware of your entitlement. have you had other protocol followed, ie risk assessments, felxi time for appointments etc?

[sundaesundae]

You are entitled to your full entitlement, but they are entitled to tell you when you can use it AFAIK, so I think what they have said is right.

[ginmakesitallok]

Your alternative would be to start maty leave earlier and then tag the al onto the end?

[constantnamechanger]

they have to Let you take it if not you have to be allowed yo c.f.

[Countmyblessings]

My WM had this issue but got around it by working 1 day then using her leave as she had offical returned so was able to use her leave!
If that makes sense. But we are a big government bizz so it may be different!
All sounds unfair but I guess she is the boss!

[AlisonL1981]

My company policy says I'm entitled to full holiday including the 8 bank holidays totalling 33 days in total. My maternity starts mid April but I'm taking 33 days holiday first.

[HomeEcoGnomist]

Your boss is correct. You can take what you have accrued, you are not losing the rest but you have to accrue that first before it is yours.
If you resigned and did not return after mat leave, having taken a year's worth of holiday up front, you would have taken too much and have to pay it back. Hence the approach to take what is yours, and carry on accruing the rest.

[Christelle2207]

Agree with homeeco.
On a related theme, I'm planning to take remaining accrued holiday before mat leave. I've been told that if baby comes early I lose that holiday. How can that be legal?

[Littlemissexpecting]

Christelle you shouldn't lose it. At my work if I have 2 weeks AL before I go on mat leave, but baby comes a week early, I have to start mat leave the date baby is born. So any AL not used will be carried over to my return, so I would return from mat leave a week later.

[curlyclaz13]

CAB agree with my take on it. holiday has to be taken in the holiday year so standard practice is take it before ml if you will be returning after the end of the holiday year.

[Chottie]

Your boss is right. DD has been told the same thing.

[milkyjo]

Your boss sounds right as you can only take annual leave that you have accrued. So up until June (5 months worth) then before you return (7 months worth), if they are allowing you to carry it over then get it in writing. It means more time off with baby. I am off March to March 2014 and annual leave year is April to March. I am not allowed to carry over annual leave so I got told I would lose what I have accrued unless I return from Maternity leave a few weeks earlier and use the annual leave.

[HaveIThoughtThisThrough]

If your annual leave is part of your contract (which it should be) then you can't lose it. My understanding is that if they will not allow you to take the days then they have to pay you for it. Annual leave is part of your payment package. If you're being told that you will lose your leave and they don't plan to reimburse you then you should take legal advice (citizens advice bureau for example) to be clear of the situation.
Although I understand that mat leave can start on the day the baby arrives at the latest, this should mean that the A/L you have booked just goes back into your leave 'account'. It shouldn't disappear.

[Purplefurrydice]

I work in HR and I always try to encourage my maternity ladies to take a big chunk (if not all) of their holiday before they start their mat leave.

There are two reasons for this -

Many companies pay SMP which is rubbish. Taking a big chuck of holiday allows a period of full pay before the baby is born.

Any unused holiday from 2013, you will carry over to 2014, meaning you will have bazillions of hols to use in 2014. This may be good for you but is pain in your backside for your boss. You may need to gently point this out to you boss, or direct him/her to the ACAS website.

[Christelle2207]

That's useful to know. So is boss telling porkies that I lose 2013 hols if baby comes early? Obviously using it up in 2014 before I go back to work, would be ideal.

[jennimoo]

While working for the council I was told that if baby came early while I was still on a/l I would not be able to carry over the leave I 'missed' to the next year. I had them double check but they were adamant...

I'm only 12 weeks and wonder if I'm going to be told the same as OP as I think our contract says that a/l can only be taken once it is accrued...

[Ellypoo]

It is actually up to your individual employer whether to let you take your annual leave entitlement before your mat leave or after, or a combination of both - as long as you have the full entitlement this is fine. Some employers allow you to carry leave forward into the next holiday year, others don't, but either way you should never lose any of your annual entitlement as a result of mat leave. You continue to accrue annual leave while you are on mat leave, and if you decide not to return, you continue to accrue it up until your final day of employment.

[curlyclaz13]

update : Boss has finally looked into it and agreed that she was in the wrong so my holiday allowance is reinstated. now she has pulled a face about part time on my return saying she will have to sack my temp. cover. this could be fun.