Maternity leave

Q. What entitlements apply to employees returning to work after maternity leave?

A. There are two types of maternity leave - all new mothers have the right to 26 weeks' ordinary maternity leave (OML), and those who have 26 weeks' service by the 15th week before their baby is due are entitled to additional maternity leave (AML) of an extra 26 weeks.

An employee returning from OML is entitled to return to the job that she was employed to do before her leave, and on the same terms and conditions as if she had not been absent - so she is entitled to any pay rises and other benefits awarded while she was on leave.

However, she can be expected to do any job that she is contractually obliged to do. For example, a woman employed as an administrator in one department could be asked to work in a different department on her return - if her contract did not specify the department she was employed to work in and her duties were not specific to that department, this could still be regarded as "the job she was employed to do".

An employee returning from AML is entitled to either the same job that she was doing or, if that is not practicable, a suitable alternative job on no less favourable terms and conditions than those she would have received if she had not been on leave.

If a redundancy situation occurs while the employee is on maternity leave, she must be offered any suitable alternative vacancy that exists when she returns.