Maternity leave meaning

Legislation safeguards the pension entitlements of members of occupational pension schemes and other employment‑related benefit arrangements, including workplace personal pension schemes that receive employer contributions, while they are away from work on statutory family leave. Statutory family leave encompasses: maternity leave paternity leave adoption leave parental leave shared parental leave parental bereavement leave carer’s leave Maternity leave Occupational pension schemes are taken to include a maternity equality rule requiring periods when a member is on maternity leave to be treated in the same manner as periods when they are not on maternity leave. This maternity equality rule applies to both paid and unpaid ordinary maternity leave (OML), as well as to paid additional maternity leave (AML). As a result, under this rule, time spent on OML and paid AML in a defined benefit (DB) scheme is recognised as pensionable service...

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Hilton Foods Solutions v Wright [2024] EAT 28 What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment turns on a single issue of interpretation: what must an employee do to be treated as having “sought” parental leave so as to gain protection from dismissal under the MAPLE Regulations 1999, SI 1999/3312, reg 20, as enforced by section 99 of the Employment Rights Act 1996? HHJ Tayler found that whether an individual has “sought” parental leave is a matter for the employment tribunal to decide on the facts, applying the ordinary meaning of the word “sought”, without any special gloss. Serving notice to take parental leave in accordance with paragraphs 1(b) and 3 of Schedule 2 to the MAPLE Regulations will, save in exceptional circumstances, generally show that the employee has “sought” to take parental leave; however, it is not the sole means by which it can be shown that the employee has sought to take parental leave. Accordingly, practitioners should note: employees...

Statutory paid holiday In Great Britain, workers have a legal entitlement to 5.6 weeks’ paid annual leave under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR 1998), SI 1998/1833. It should be recognised from the start that this is made up of two components: a core entitlement of four weeks’ paid annual leave (often called ‘Euro leave’) (WTR 1998, SI 1998/1833, reg 13), and an extra 1.6 weeks’ paid annual leave (WTR 1998, SI 1998/1833, reg 13A) Different rules apply to irregular hours and part-year workers for holiday years beginning on or after 1 April 2024. For further details, see Practice Note: Statutory paid holiday—irregular hours workers and part-year workers. For the position in Northern Ireland, which has its own Working Time Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016, SI 2016/49, see Practice Note: Employment law in Northern Ireland—Working Time Regulations and holidays. The basic four-week entitlement reflects the UK’s implementation of the EU minimum in Article 7 of Directive 2003/88/EC (the Working Time Directive),...

This Practice Note considers statutory adoption pay (SAP) and contractual adoption payments. It also examines eligibility criteria, the meaning of employed earner, the duration of entitlement, notice obligations, the evidence required, the length of time SAP is payable, rates of pay, and liability, including where an individual has more than one employer. It addresses outcomes where a child dies or a placement breaks down, circumstances in which SAP is not due, record-keeping duties, and how recoupment operates. Finally, it explores how contractual sick pay interacts with SAP, adoptions from outside the UK, and contracting out. A parent taking adoption leave (see Practice Note: Adoption leave) may qualify for SAP for part of that leave. They may receive payment for time off to attend adoption appointments (see Practice Note: Time off work for adoption appointments). Where a child is placed for adoption, the adopter and a second person—who must be the adopter’s spouse, civil partner, or partner—may, if they choose, share up to 37 of the 39 weeks of pay...

For comprehensive coverage of the substantive right to take shared parental leave, refer to Practice Notes: Shared parental leave (birth) and Shared parental leave (adoption). This Practice Note outlines the circumstances in which employees may carry out work while on shared parental leave. For details on the ability to work during maternity and adoption leave, see Practice Note: Work during maternity or adoption leave—keeping in touch days. Shared parental leave keeping in touch days (SPLIT days) Employees can undertake up to 20 days of work ('shared parental leave in touch days' or 'SPLIT days') during any periods of shared parental leave that they take, without such work ending their shared parental leave, or any entitlement to shared parental pay...

Instructions: please read all of this before filling in the form Throughout this form, when we refer to: the ‘child’, we mean the child (including an unborn child) for whom you intend to take shared parental leave/pay; and the ‘Mother’, we mean that child’s mother or expectant mother. To take shared parental leave and/or claim shared parental pay, you must be: the child’s father; and/or married to the Mother; or the Mother’s civil partner; or the Mother’s ‘partner’. In this form, ‘partner’ means someone who lives with the Mother and will live with the child in an ‘enduring family relationship’, but is not the Mother’s child, parent (including adoptive or former adoptive parents), grandchild, grandparent, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew. Provided you fall into one or more of the categories above, every reference in this form to the ‘Father or Partner’ is a reference to you...

[ include relevant information on the electorate as specified by the employer, eg the whole workforce, night shift, day shift, management, non-management, or applicable department ] Absent voter details: (To be completed by the absentee) Proxy details: (To be completed by the proxy) I will be absent and cannot vote in person in the election for [ employee OR worker ] representatives due to holiday, illness, maternity leave, parental leave, other (delete as applicable)...

Employee name: Employment commencement date and present length of service [ Insert date ] [ Insert length of service ] Job role: Division/Department Assessed by: Assessment date: Role: Approved by: Date: Role: Guidance: When using the criteria (other than disciplinary history), reasonable adjustments might be required for workers with a disability (as set out in the Equality Act 2010, s 6) where not doing so would put them at a significant disadvantage compared with non-disabled colleagues. This exception does not extend to disciplinary records. Service refers to continuous employment with the company and any linked company. Service includes transferred service within associated companies. If the worker has under 12 months’ service, convert the absence record to an annualised figure. Annualisation ensures a balanced and like-for-like assessment. Disregard the following absences: These must be excluded from absence calculations. absences linked to a disability (as defined by Equality Act 2010, s 6); maternity...

Under WTR 1998, workers get 5.6 weeks’ annual leave each year: a basic entitlement of four weeks’ leave (20 days for a standard full‑time worker) implementing article 7 of the Working Time Directive (WTD) an additional 1.6 weeks’ leave (eight days for a standard full‑time worker) created by domestic law only Understanding this distinction is important because: European Court of Justice case law concerns the WTD alone, so it applies only to the basic four weeks’ paid leave holiday pay is calculated differently for: the basic four weeks, and the additional 1.6 weeks The general rules as to the right to carry forward accrued holiday entitlement are that: the basic four weeks must be taken in the leave year earned and cannot be carried over (though an employer may choose to allow it) a relevant agreement may allow the additional 1.6...

Disability discrimination Under section 6 of the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010) and EqA 2010, Sch 1, Pt 1, a diagnosis of cancer is treated, without further proof, as a disability for EqA 2010 purposes. See Practice Note: Disability. Attention must be given to the various forms of discrimination and other banned conduct contained in EqA 2010, as set out within that legislation and provisions therein. See the part of Practice Note: Disability discrimination headed ‘The basic types of discrimination and other prohibited conduct’, together with the fuller Practice Notes cited there and cross-referred within that section. For EqA 2010 purposes, a ‘dismissal’ also covers situations where an employee’s employment ends (and is not immediately renewed on identical terms) because a particular period has run out, or a particular event has happened, or a particular circumstance has arisen; this includes the ending of fixed-term contracts (EqA 2010, s 39(7)–(8)). Accordingly, the requirement to make reasonable adjustments binds employers when they are considering dismissing an employee; that is, dismissal will...

This Q&A relates to the shared parental leave and shared parental pay regime introduced in respect of children who are: due to be born on or after 5 April 2015, or placed for adoption on or after 5 April 2015 Shared parental leave permits parents, if they prefer, to split up to a maximum of 50 weeks of the leave that would otherwise fall solely to the mother or adopter, which is then treated as shared parental leave. Shared parental pay enables the mother and the father (or, where relevant, the adopter and the adopter’s partner) to divide up to 37 weeks of the pay to which the mother (or adopter) would otherwise be solely entitled. To qualify for shared parental leave and pay, the mother and the father (or, as applicable, the adopter and the adopter’s partner) must satisfy certain eligibility criteria and comply fully with the required notice, declarations and supporting evidence provisions...