Maternity & AL dispute

intothewest

Hi There,

I am wondering if anyone can throw some light on a maternity/annual leave question I have.

I was due my baby Jan 20th. I ended up having to carry over days (4) of my annual leave from 2011, mainly because work was too busytowards end of 2011 to use them all, so my maternity was due to start Jan 9th, and I had the first week in Jan off as annual leave. However, I ended up having my baby Jan 1st, and my work have now put down my maternity as starting Jan 2nd (instead of 9th), I am essentially therefore losing out on four days annual leave. I had been told last year that any carried over days have to be used in Q1.

I was aware that maternity would start from when you had baby, but is it right/legal if it means you lose out your annual leave? Or is it completely down to company discretion? I am private sector. I can't see anything in there maternity policy for this scenario.

Another lesson for me that you get no thanks...I never called in sick, worked like a dog (cos, possibly foolishly, I don't believe in using a pregnancy as a get out of work card) til the end, and then they do something like this.

Eoin

How much have you discussed this with them? Are they digging their heels in about this, or is there a chance that they've just been going through their processes and not taken all your factors into account?

You're entitled to accrue annual leave while on maternity leave, and I don't know why you wouldn't be able to argue that the leave you carried over (not by choice, but because of work demands) should just be taken at the end of your maternity leave (including the public holidays if they choose to give you days in lieue for them), so it all balances out.

intothewest

There has been no discussion yet. However, they manually went in to the holiday calendar to over-ride the dates because when I left, my maternity end date was in July and now it's end June..and as they knew from the same calendar that the first week was annual leave, and from knowing how they operate, they are back tracking my ML. I am just doing some homework to get an idea on my rights in this situation before I call them.

intothewest

Also, just to anwer, when it was apparent I needed to carry over my AL, I was told that it had to be used in Q1, so therefore I had to use it the week before my ML was due to start..I asked about tagging it on to the end of my ML along with my accrued AL/bank hols, but they point blank refused that.

edellc

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/leave_and_holidays/annual_leave_public_holidays.html

Annual leave and other leave
Annual leave is not affected by other leave provided for by law. Time spent on maternity leave, adoptive leave, parental leave, force majeure leave and the first 13 weeks of carer's leave is treated as though you have been in employment and this time can be used to accumulate annual leave entitlement.

Just because you leave carried over doesnt mean your employer can get away with not paying you for it, you couldnt help your baby arriving early either so you should not be punished.

Write a letter to your employer stating that you want to be paid for the days that carried over from last year, I dont think you can take them at the end of your ML and your employer and baby arriving early have confused the dates so just ask for the payment, would be my opinion on it

i know it is now well past q1 and this probably should have been sorted out earlier but there are still some employers that no nothing of ML law and rights

also you do know you are entitled to be paid for any bank holidays and if your employer has a policy as to when you are entitled to take holidays and this has fallen while on maternity leave you should also put that in the letter

intothewest

Thanks Edel. I've only realised in last two weeks that they altered the start date of maternity, and they did so without notifying me. I'd think it was an oversight on their part only for there were several discussions about it and that week I carried over would've been detailed as annual leave.

In terms of bank hols during my leave, they're kosher on that front.

tatli_lokma

edellc wrote: »

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/leave_and_holidays/annual_leave_public_holidays.html

Annual leave and other leave
Annual leave is not affected by other leave provided for by law. Time spent on maternity leave, adoptive leave, parental leave, force majeure leave and the first 13 weeks of carer's leave is treated as though you have been in employment and this time can be used to accumulate annual leave entitlement.

Just because you leave carried over doesnt mean your employer can get away with not paying you for it, you couldnt help your baby arriving early either so you should not be punished.

Write a letter to your employer stating that you want to be paid for the days that carried over from last year, I dont think you can take them at the end of your ML and your employer and baby arriving early have confused the dates so just ask for the payment, would be my opinion on it

i know it is now well past q1 and this probably should have been sorted out earlier but there are still some employers that no nothing of ML law and rights

also you do know you are entitled to be paid for any bank holidays and if your employer has a policy as to when you are entitled to take holidays and this has fallen while on maternity leave you should also put that in the letter

+1 to everything except the text in bold

you can't pay out an employee for unused AL. But you also cannot just take it away. So although it is awkward, they should be tagging the unused leave on to the end of the ML. Otherwise they are in breach of the Organisation of Working time act.

Citizens Information wrote:

It is illegal under the Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997 for an employer to pay an allowance in lieu of the minimum statutory holiday entitlement of an employee unless the employment relationship is terminated

edellc

Little Ted wrote: »

+1 to everything except the text in bold

you can't pay out an employee for unused AL. But you also cannot just take it away. So although it is awkward, they should be tagging the unused leave on to the end of the ML. Otherwise they are in breach of the Organisation of Working time act.

lol well then my employer was acting illegally as he paid me for holidays that where not taken rather than add them on at the end

thanks for the clarification as i wasnt too sure I had a feeling it wasnt the right thing that he did but just couldnt find the back up info

but happy days for me as needed the money the fecker didnt pay maternity so was only getting the social welfare maternity pay

tatli_lokma

edellc wrote: »

lol well then my employer was acting illegally as he paid me for holidays that where not taken rather than add them on at the end

thanks for the clarification as i wasnt too sure I had a feeling it wasnt the right thing that he did but just couldnt find the back up info

but happy days for me as needed the money the fecker didnt pay maternity so was only getting the social welfare maternity pay

well if it benefited you more than time off, I think its a case of least said, soonest mended!