Pregnancy and your rights at work: what to do and when

By Rebecca Reid

 

Finding out your expecting can be exciting and daunting in equal measure, especially if it is your first baby.  For working mums-to-be and new mums, it can also be difficult to know how to approach your pregnancy with your employer and what you should do, when.  Queue my step-by-step guide to help you through from early pregnancy through to returning to work.

 

The early stages...

Check your handbook: Check your staff handbook and contract to see what benefits your employer offers, for example they may offer enhanced maternity pay, subject to conditions.

  1. Telling your employer: you need to notify your employer you are pregnant by the 15th week before your baby is due.  Work this out by counting backwards 15 weeks from the Sunday before your due date.  You may want to tell your employer before this but there is no requirement for you to if you don’t want to.  Your employer will need to know when you intend to start maternity leave (which you can change later on with 28 days’ notice) and that you want to receive maternity pay.
  2. Health and safety: if there are any health and safety risks to you and your unborn baby, your employer should carry out a health and safety risk assessment.  If there is a risk, your employer needs to take steps to remove them or offer a suitable alternative on the same pay or suspend you on full pay.
  3. Antenatal appointments: you are entitled to paid time off to go to antenatal appointments.  Your employer may ask to see your appointment card.  Dads or partners who are employed also have the right to come with you to two unpaid ante-natal appointments.  Your employer can not ask you to make time up for attending antenatal appointments.

Week 20

Your doctor or midwife should give you a form called a MATB1 between week 20 and week 28.  The MATB1 confirms your pregnancy and due date.  You will also need it to be able to claim SMP or Maternity Allowance.  This depends on how long you’ve worked for your employer and how much you earn; if you were already working for your employer when you got pregnant you will usually be entitled to SMP.  If you don’t qualify for SMP because you were already pregnant when you started your job or your earnings are below the threshold for SMP, you may be entitled to claim Maternity Allowance.

Week 25

You will need to notify your employer of your pregnancy by this week if you haven’t already done so and give your employer your MATB1 certificate.  Your employer should write to you within 28 days confirming the start date of your leave and your expected return date Your employer will confirm if you are entitled to SMP and if not, you may be able to claim other benefits from your local Jobcentre Plus on form MA1.  Your partner or spouse or the baby’s father also needs to notify their employer in this week if they want to take paternity leave and pay (up to 2 weeks, which must be taken in the first 8 weeks after birth).

Week 29

This is the earliest week you can start your maternity leave and pay, provided you have given your employer the right notice.

Week 34

If your baby was due on or after 5 April 2015 and your partner wants to take Shared Parental Leave straight after paternity leave, notice should be given this week.

Week 36

If you are absent from work for pregnancy-related illness from now until the birth, your employer can start your maternity leave and pay.

 

Week of childbirth

Congratulations! The day after you give birth is the latest you can start your maternity leave and pay if you haven’t done so already, even if the baby is born early.  You must take at least 2 weeks maternity leave (4 weeks if you work in a factory).

 

After your baby is born

  1. You may be entitled to claim tax credits and child benefit.  Check with your local benefits office to check your entitlement and how to apply.  You will need your child’s birth certificate as proof of the birth.
     
  2. After the end of week 2 after the birth is the earliest you can start to take Shared Parental Leave if your baby was due on or after 5 April 2015.  Shared Parental Leave is an alternative to maternity leave and allows you to share the remainder of your maternity leave with your partner or spouse.  Otherwise, you can take up to 52 weeks maternity leave from your employer.  If you want to return before the end of your 52 weeks, you need to give your employer 8 weeks notice.  If your baby was due before 5 April 2015, your partner/the baby’s father may be entitled to Additional Paternity Leave and Pay.
     
  3. If you have at least one years’ service you’re your employer and you want to take unpaid parental leave at the end of your additional maternity leave, you need to give your employer at least 21 days notice before your maternity leave is due to end.  
     
  4. If you have worked for your employer for at least 26 weeks then you have to right to request flexible working for your return to work.  Check your employer’s flexible working policy for guidance on the procedure.  Your employer can only turn down your request for one of 8 particulars reasons and may discriminate against you if they turn it down unreasonably, but remember that it is a right to request flexible working, not the right to be granted it.
     
  5. Employers have a health and safety duty towards women who have given birth in the last six months or who are breastfeeding, so ask for a risk assessment if your work is difficult or dangerous. 

Most importantly, enjoy your maternity leave!

 

Employment lawyer, Rebecca Reid, is on the forum taking your questions and offering you bespoke advice. Make the most of her expertise.