Maternity and Adoption Leave Changes October 2008

Legislation changes are taking place which will affect those whose expected week of childbirth, or expected week of placement with a child, is on or after 5 October 2008.

Maternity Leave

At present, during Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML - weeks 1 to 26) a woman is entitled to the benefit of all of her terms and conditions of employment which would have applied had she not been on maternity leave, except remuneration (wages and salary).

However, during Additional Maternity Leave (AML - weeks 27 to 52), a much more limited range of terms and conditions currently apply e.g. the implied term of mutual trust and confidence and terms relating to notice rights, redundancy pay and disciplinary & grievance procedures.

For those due on or after 5 October 2008, the contractual entitlements and benefits the employee enjoys during OML will also continue for the duration of AML. 

Adoption Leave

Where a child is due to be placed on or after 5 October 2008, the contractual benefits of the person taking adoption leave should be the same during both Ordinary and Additional Adoption Leave periods.

Which benefits will be affected?

The types of benefits employers will need to provide for the full 52 weeks of leave will include:

• the right to accrue contractual annual leave; 
• company cars and mobile phones (where these have not  been provided solely for business use);
• insurance cover provided under company insurance policies e.g. medical / dental / critical illness / travel / car;
• employer-provided health checks;
• gym memberships.

Return to Work

Finally, the right to return to work following OML is an entitlement to return to the same job.  The right to return following AML is to the same job, but if that is not reasonably practicable, to a suitable job on terms and conditions which are no less favourable than the original job.  These rights remain unaltered by the October changes.