Agency work while on unpaid leave

beertons

The missus is thinking about applying for agency work, as a nurse, while on unpaid leave. Is she allowed to do this? Would she be covered by insurance and would her own hospital mind her doing it? She'd only want one day a week, for pocket money. She hasn't really been able to save on this maternity leave with the second baby.

Hope this makes sense.

tatli_lokma

beertons wrote: »

The missus is thinking about applying for agency work, as a nurse, while on unpaid leave. Is she allowed to do this? Would she be covered by insurance and would her own hospital mind her doing it? She'd only want one day a week, for pocket money. She hasn't really been able to save on this maternity leave with the second baby.

Hope this makes sense.

If she is on unpaid maternity leave she would not normally be allowed to work elsewhere. Basically her employer is holding her job for her while she is on maternity. If she able/willing to return to work she should be doing so in her original workplace.

That said some employers are flexible about it and provided they gave permission it would be okay. But she needs express permission from her employers. Another option might be to return to work part time and use her unpaid maternity in that way. In my company we allow this, so for example instead of Mary taking an additional 4 months unpaid leave, instead she works a 3 day week for the next 42 or so weeks.

Mrs OBumble

What does her employment contract say?

If her leave is unpaid, and she's on maternity benefit, then AFAIK she's not allowed to be in paid work.



Frankly. I'm appalled that you describe providing her with some spending money as "pocket money" - surely you are managing your family so that each of you has some discretionary spending money, as well as appropriate savings, from the joint income you have available?

tatli_lokma

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

If her leave is unpaid, and she's on maternity benefit, then AFAIK she's not allowed to be in paid work.

After the initial 26 weeks of maternity benefit, everything after that is unpaid. No maternity benefit or anything else. This is why many women return to work without taking the additional leave as they cannot afford to live for a further few months on one wage (or no wage in the case of single mums). Other mums accept the fact that they won't have as much money in return for extra time off when their child is so young. It is entirely discretionary. But once you make that decision and ask your employer to hold your job open for you, I personally think it's a bit rich to work elsewhere. It is very contradictory. This is why I suggested that OPs wife discuss her options with her employer, as it would be much better to come to a compromise with them than end up working elsewhere and possibly getting the sack because of it.

beertons

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

What does her employment contract say?

If her leave is unpaid, and she's on maternity benefit, then AFAIK she's not allowed to be in paid work.



Frankly. I'm appalled that you describe providing her with some spending money as "pocket money" - surely you are managing your family so that each of you has some discretionary spending money, as well as appropriate savings, from the joint income you have available?

Don't shoot the messenger Mrs O, I'm just relaying what's said to me. Getting by ok now, but once October hits, we're down an entire income. I'd love to say I would manage on my own, but that's not the case. Parental leave is not possible in here job. She can cut down to a 4 day week when she goes back, but that's it. It would be ideal for us for her to get a leg in to our local hospital. Saving very little, year old mortgage and still stuff to be done. She wouldn't be the first one to think of this, speaking to her friends she certainly isn't on her own. They weren't able to answer our initial questions. They took the work as it came, either way.

tatli_lokma

Parental leave wouldn't help anyway as it is also unpaid. But it is an entitlement so saying her job doesn't do it is incorrect. Both parents, you and your wife have a right to unpaid parental leave. I know financially its not much help but worth knowing should you ever need to avail of it

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

average_runner

beertons wrote: »

Don't shoot the messenger Mrs O, I'm just relaying what's said to me. Getting by ok now, but once October hits, we're down an entire income. I'd love to say I would manage on my own, but that's not the case. Parental leave is not possible in here job. She can cut down to a 4 day week when she goes back, but that's it. It would be ideal for us for her to get a leg in to our local hospital. Saving very little, year old mortgage and still stuff to be done. She wouldn't be the first one to think of this, speaking to her friends she certainly isn't on her own. They weren't able to answer our initial questions. They took the work as it came, either way.

If she is only going on unpaid leave in October why dont ye save for it?

Its what we did, we put money away so when down to one salary we be grand.

tatli_lokma

OP, I appreciate that your wife may want to stay home longer, but there is no obligation to do so. If it is financially such a struggle, why doesn't she return to work? I know many women would prefer to stay home longer, but many don't simply for this very reason.

beertons

Ah she wants to spend as much time as possible with the baby while she's so small. I think i'll hide her credit card and see how she gets on. We might get November and December out of it.

Mrs OBumble

tatli_lokma wrote: »

Parental leave wouldn't help anyway as it is also unpaid. But it is an entitlement so saying her job doesn't do it is incorrect. Both parents, you and your wife have a right to unpaid parental leave. I know financially its not much help but worth knowing should you ever need to avail of it

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

It's not quite that simple, though:

The 18 weeks per child may be taken in one continuous period or in 2 separate blocks of a minimum of 6 weeks. There must be a gap of at least 10 weeks between the 2 periods of parental leave per child. However, if your employer agrees you can separate your leave into periods of days or even hours.

and...

Apart from a refusal on the grounds on non-entitlement, an employer may also postpone the leave for up to 6 months. This must be done before the confirmation document is signed. After that, the leave cannot be postponed without further written agreement. Grounds for such a postponement include lack of cover or the fact that other employees are already on parental leave. Normally only one postponement is allowed, but it may be postponed twice if the reason is seasonal variations in the volume of work.

So it's not quite an absolute entitlement.


More relevant to the OP is:

Parental leave is to be used only to take care of the child concerned. If the parental leave is taken and used for another purpose the employer is entitled to cancel the leave.

So I think what it boils down to is that if the employer finds out you've been working elsewhere, they are entitles to say "Get your butt back to work, or resign".

I guess it probably depends on how willing you are to take the risk that they will 1) find out , and 2) enforce it.

tatli_lokma

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

So it's not quite an absolute entitlement.

provided you meet the requirements (i.e the rules stipulated in the link you mentioned) then it is an entitlement. And employer cannot just say no, they must give reasonable consideration to the request. Given the fact that the parent is already on maternity leave, it would be hard to argue that they cannot arrange cover.

I was not in anyway suggesting that parental leave be used as a method of working elsewhere. I was merely pointing out to OP that parental leave is by and large always unpaid, so it would be no benefit over unpaid maternity leave in their situation, and also that there is an entitlement to some parental leave, provided you meet the eligibility requirements.