Maternity Leave and The Law

Now I have to say we're pretty hot on the ol' HR Law but I was so shocked by a recent discovery that I had to get it checked out by several highly reputable sources.

This particular aspect of HR law covers maternity leave.  Personally I think Maternity Leave is a brilliant thing and we have a number of people working part time for us; returning to work after starting a family.  

However, they weren't working for us when they were pregnant so my knowledge and experience of Maternity Leave isn't that extensive...

Let me explain the situation.

We had a lady (predictably) working with us who was having a baby.  Come the appropriate moment she went off on Statutory Maternity Leave.  We continued to pay her but claimed back via National Insurance.

So, six months passed and we asked our member of staff about her intentions and she said she wanted to extend her Maternity Leave to the full year.

Okay, not ideal, but not much we could do about it.

The year was almost up so we got in touch again about coming back... now here's where I entered uncharted territory for me.

The lady asked to come back part time... fine.  But the part time hours didn't match our business needs.  The request to come back part time is officially known as a request for Flexible Working.  Because it didn't match business needs we were fully entitled to reject the request, which we did.

Of course, this being the law in general and HR law in particular there were standard letters and processes to be followed which we did to the letter.

The upshot of all this was that our lady handed in her notice... all amicable and everyone was happy.  Or, if not happy, then at least accepting!

Here comes the bit I had to get checked out and although I believe the advice I was given implicitly, I just don't believe it.

Deep breath and I'll say it quickly so I don't wind myself up.

All the time our lady was on Maternity Leave she was accruing holidays at the same rate as though she was still working for us.

She had a year off so was entitled to 28 days paid leave... and we had to pay it.  More than £2k.

The cynical part of me wonders whether this lady knew this and was playing us all along for a nice £2,000 bonus.  The philosophical part simple says, 'well, them's the rules.'  The realistic part of me thinks it's just not fair and this must be a loophole and the hopeful part of me thinks that the advice I've received from three independent sources can't possibly right.

Can it?

If anyone can tell me that the advice is wrong and actually I can claim that holiday pay back, please get in touch!