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Maternity Rights
If a member of your staff becomes pregnant, regardless of the length
of time she may have been working for you or the number of hours
she works, she is entitled to the following by law (The
Employment Rights Act 1993):
- Paid time off work for
antenatal care (cannot be offset against sick pay)
- 14 weeks maternity leave
- not to be dismissed because she
is pregnant
- not to work during the two
weeks after the birth of her baby
- the right to return to work
(although this does not apply to companies with five employees
or less)
If your employee has been working
for you for one or more years at the 11th week before the expected
week the baby is due, she will be entitled to:
- All the above
- Up to 29 weeks maternity leave
- protection of pension rights
Statutory Maternity Pay
If your employee has been working for you for 26 weeks or
more, continuing into the 15th week before the baby is due
(qualifying week) and her average weeks earnings are not
less than the lower earning limit for paying National Insurance
Contributions. Your
employee should start to receive these payments on leaving work to
have her baby, and she must have giving you prior notice that she
is leaving at least 21 days in advance, plus medical evidence of
her pregnancy (MATB1 form). You must pay SMP even if your
employee decides not to return to work for you. SMP
is paid for 18 weeks in total and amounts to 90% of the employees
average weekly wage for the first six weeks and then it reduces to
a rate set by the contributions agency. This rate changes
from year to year, so you will need to obtain a copy of the
"Statutory Maternity Tables - form CA36 - from the contributions
agency. A set percentage of
SMP money can be recovered and deducted from your overall NI contributions
payments. Again the amount can be located in the "Statutory
Maternity Tables - form CA36 for the current amount. |
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If you are a small business you could be entitled to recoup 100% of
the SMP paid. This only occurs if you qualify for "Small
Employers' relief". This means that the total of your NI
contributions must be less than £20,000 for the tax year.
SMP
is quite a complex issue, so it is worth obtaining the "Statutory
Maternity Pay Manual for Employers" - CA29 Unfair
Dismissal
It is deemed unfair by the "Employment Rights Act 1996",
should you decide to sack your employee as a result of her being pregnant. Maternity
Leave
An employee is given 18 weeks maternity leave regardless of the length
of time she has been employed with you. However, for employees who
have served two years or more they are allowed what is know as
"Extended Leave". Extended leave means that this employee
can return to work after 29 weeks maternity leave beginning at the actual
week of childbirth. For her to qualify for extended maternity leave
she must have worked 16 hours per week or more (only 8 hours if she
has worked 5 years or more) and indicated her intentions to return to
work. The right to return to work
Larger companies are obliged by law the right for their employees to
return to work after their maternity leave has expired. However, if
you employ 5 or less employees this statutory right will not apply to you,
provided that you can prove that it is not reasonable practical to allow her
to return. Please check this out before you decide to dismiss an
employee as rules are prone to change. Health and
Safety
If your employee is performing tasks in her job which might affect her
pregnancy or health in any way then you must suspend her work on
maternity grounds. However, you cannot dismiss your employee for
this reason, but offer her alternative work. If alternative arrangements
cannot be made, then you must suspend her on full pay, unless she refuses
to take up the alternative post.
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