Can I Take Maternity Leave?

All women employees are entitled to 26 weeks Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML) whatever their length of service or hours. You have the right to return to exactly the same job after your OML.

If you have 26 week's service (at the 14th week before the expected week of childbirth), you will also be entitled to Additional Maternity Leave (AML). This extends maternity leave for a further 26 weeks starting from the end of OML. The total period of maternity leave is one year.

Your leave can start at any time after the 11th week before the expected week of childbirth. It is up to you to decide when you start your maternity leave, so long as the start date is after the 11th week before your due date. The latest maternity leave can start is the date your baby is born. You count your 26 weeks from the date you start your leave. To take maternity leave you should:

• Notify your employer (a) that you are pregnant (b) the expected week of childbirth and (c) the date on which you intend leave to start, before the end of the 15th week before your due date. Your employer can ask you to put this information in writing.
• You can amend the intended start date of your leave with at least 28 days notice where reasonably practicable.
• Your employer must inform you in writing of your leave period and expected week of return within 28 days of your providing notice. If you are entitled to AML, you employer should assume you will take it and give you a return date that is 52 weeks from the date you intend to start maternity leave.
• If no earlier than fourteen weeks before the expected week of childbirth, your employer asks, you must supply a medical certificate (Mat B1) stating the expected week of childbirth. If you do not intend to return, but still qualify for the pay, the Mat B1 need not be given until after what would have been the end of the 3rd week of OML. You can get the Mat B1 from your midwife after the 20th week of pregnancy.

You need not give notice of return to work from OML or AML, unless you wish to return earlier than your full leave entitlement. In that case, you have to give 28 days notice of the revised date of your return. If you do not give 28 days notice, your employer can postpone your return until 28 days notice has passed.

OML includes 2 weeks Compulsory Maternity Leave (CML) after childbirth (4 weeks if you work in a factory). CML means you cannot do any work or even be contacted about work though your employer can contact you, for example, to offer congratulations etc.

There are two instances where maternity leave is automatically triggered:

• where your baby is born before you are due to start leave and
• where you are absent from work for a pregnancy related reason (e.g. pregnancy related sickness or a possibly a health and safety suspension) after the 4th week before the expected week of childbirth

If either of these occurs, the notice provisions are adjusted. You must, nevertheless, tell the employer as soon as you can.

Complaints about failure to allow you to take or return from maternity leave should be made to an Employment Tribunal. A three months time limit for making a complaint generally applies. Before making a claim you must put your grievance in writing to your employer. The time limit for bringing a claim will then be extended by another three months.

If you are dismissed because you are pregnant, have taken maternity leave or for another reason related to your pregnancy, you can make a claim for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination, even if you have not worked for your employer for a full year.