maternity leave question-civil service

chooey

Hi, I'm just wondering would anyone have an answer to this. My sister works in the civil service-she started a year ago and has been initially put on a 2 year contract. She's just found out that she's pregnant so will be due about 4 months prior to this contract running out. Will she be let go at the end of this contract? Will she get maternity pay while on her leave? She's going to go to HR in relation to same but just wondering would anyone have experience of this. Thanks a million

Cakerbaker

chooey wrote: »

Hi, I'm just wondering would anyone have an answer to this. My sister works in the civil service-she started a year ago and has been initially put on a 2 year contract. She's just found out that she's pregnant so will be due about 4 months prior to this contract running out. Will she be let go at the end of this contract? Will she get maternity pay while on her leave? She's going to go to HR in relation to same but just wondering would anyone have experience of this. Thanks a million

Is she on a 2 year probationary contract and will be made permanent after 2 years of satisfactory service or is it a straight forward 2 year contract that you could get in any type of industry with no commitments made regarding long term employment after the 2 years?

I’ve been pregnant while on probation in the civil service but that was in a permanent position assuming I passed probation so I could tell you how that works but I wouldn’t be sure if it’s the other option.

chooey

Thanks for your reply. As far as she's aware she'll be kept on after the two years (or at least she thought she would be prior to getting pregnant)

Cakerbaker

In my case I was 5 months in my position on probation when I started maternity leave. I was entitled to full maternity benefits, so full pay while on maternity leave and took the unpaid leave following this too. My probation was paused while I was on maternity leave so had to complete the 7 remaining months when i returned from maternity leave. Now I was in a permanent position assuming I passed probation so it may be a bit different when on contract.

chooey

Thanks so much for that info. I've just linked her this post. Thanks again

Cakerbaker

http://hr.per.gov.ie/maternity-leave/

There may be some useful info here

hardybuck

Cakerbaker wrote: »

Is she on a 2 year probationary contract and will be made permanent after 2 years of satisfactory service or is it a straight forward 2 year contract that you could get in any type of industry with no commitments made regarding long term employment after the 2 years?

I’ve been pregnant while on probation in the civil service but that was in a permanent position assuming I passed probation so I could tell you how that works but I wouldn’t be sure if it’s the other option.

You cannot be on a two year probationary contract. The maximum is 12 months.

Maternity dictates that a pregnant woman should be treated the same as a non pregnant woman, and indeed one who is permanent. If she is treated differently because of her pregnancy, then the employer is in hot water.

That said, your sister's contract ends 4 months before she is due. If the employer doesn't intend to renew the contract, they should proceed as they would with a non pregnant member of staff.

Crunchymomma

I could be wrong buy I think her benefits as laid out in the maternity act 2004 would end on the day her contract would be down to finish. They are not obligated to bring her back for the remainder of contract after leave nor are they obligated to give her a new contract. Depending on the section they may agree to extending her contract before she goes though, in which case she would retain her benefits until she returned

chooey

Thanks so much for your replies. When we were talking today she said that she is on a 2 year fixed term contract post.