An employee is entitled to a period of twenty six weeks ordinary maternity leave, regardless of her length of service. During this time, she will be entitled to receive statutory maternity pay provided that she has at least six months continuous employment, unless there is an enhanced entitlement under the contract of employment.
To qualify for maternity leave, a woman should tell her employer by the end of the fifteenth week before the expected week of childbirth:
• that she is pregnant
• the expected week of childbirth, by means of a medical certificate if requested
• the date she intends to start maternity leave. This can normally be any date which is no earlier than the beginning of the eleventh week before the expected week of childbirth up to the birth.
An employee should then write to the employer, within twenty eight days of her notification, setting out her return date. The employee can change this date if she gives her employer 28 days’ notice.
|