Teacher maternity return, whose decision on timing?
Discussion
Evening All,
Wifey is a teacher and started maternity leave in early Jan when our son was born. She's going back to work and has asked to go back at the end of July. Whilst the kids don't start term until September so she's been told by the school she can't come back until then?
I always thought it was down to the person on leave to decide when they came back? Granted the kids are off in August but if she's expected to turn up at the start of September and start teaching, then she'll be doing all of the prep and planning work for the year in August. Contrary to some cliche's it's not exactly a summer holiday!
Can they force her to wait and only pay her from September? I've been chasing her for a copy of her maternity policy but she's being really funny about it all and wants to ignore it. I'm not keen on her working most of August for free when we need the money!
Wifey is a teacher and started maternity leave in early Jan when our son was born. She's going back to work and has asked to go back at the end of July. Whilst the kids don't start term until September so she's been told by the school she can't come back until then?
I always thought it was down to the person on leave to decide when they came back? Granted the kids are off in August but if she's expected to turn up at the start of September and start teaching, then she'll be doing all of the prep and planning work for the year in August. Contrary to some cliche's it's not exactly a summer holiday!
Can they force her to wait and only pay her from September? I've been chasing her for a copy of her maternity policy but she's being really funny about it all and wants to ignore it. I'm not keen on her working most of August for free when we need the money!
MrChips said:
Evening All,
Wifey is a teacher and started maternity leave in early Jan when our son was born. She's going back to work and has asked to go back at the end of July. Whilst the kids don't start term until September so she's been told by the school she can't come back until then?
I always thought it was down to the person on leave to decide when they came back? Granted the kids are off in August but if she's expected to turn up at the start of September and start teaching, then she'll be doing all of the prep and planning work for the year in August. Contrary to some cliche's it's not exactly a summer holiday!
Can they force her to wait and only pay her from September? I've been chasing her for a copy of her maternity policy but she's being really funny about it all and wants to ignore it. I'm not keen on her working most of August for free when we need the money!
It's the oldest trick in the book, so I'm surprised the school is pushing back. 100% she should be allowed to return to work at the end of July term and be paid full over the summer holidays.Wifey is a teacher and started maternity leave in early Jan when our son was born. She's going back to work and has asked to go back at the end of July. Whilst the kids don't start term until September so she's been told by the school she can't come back until then?
I always thought it was down to the person on leave to decide when they came back? Granted the kids are off in August but if she's expected to turn up at the start of September and start teaching, then she'll be doing all of the prep and planning work for the year in August. Contrary to some cliche's it's not exactly a summer holiday!
Can they force her to wait and only pay her from September? I've been chasing her for a copy of her maternity policy but she's being really funny about it all and wants to ignore it. I'm not keen on her working most of August for free when we need the money!
Is she employed by school or council? She's in the union?
Evanivitch said:
It's the oldest trick in the book, so I'm surprised the school is pushing back. 100% she should be allowed to return to work at the end of July term and be paid full over the summer holidays.
Is she employed by school or council? She's in the union?
Employed by the council and yep part of the NTU. She's one of these people that doesn't want to kick up a fuss despite it potentially costing us £2k!Is she employed by school or council? She's in the union?
MrChips said:
Employed by the council and yep part of the NTU. She's one of these people that doesn't want to kick up a fuss despite it potentially costing us £2k!
Get her to talk to a friendly colleague that has young kids. Honestly, they all do it. Can't understand why the school thinks this case is different.I even had a colleague that did shared parental leave, his wife was the teacher. She "returned to work" every school holiday. He got the paternity leave.
My wife is a teacher and she went back to school for the last week of term in July to ensure she was paid in full for August with both of our children.
You do have to give a certain amount of notice for when you ate returning and if you want to change the date already agreed so you may be too late now. Look up the teachers burgundy book, if has all the terms for teachers in England and Wales, it definitely details maternity and notice periods etc.
You do have to give a certain amount of notice for when you ate returning and if you want to change the date already agreed so you may be too late now. Look up the teachers burgundy book, if has all the terms for teachers in England and Wales, it definitely details maternity and notice periods etc.
As said above, the school/LA cannot stop her coming back. However, just double check the maternity policy as under some scenarios, going back earlier than stated on MATB1, could mean they have overpaid any contractual maternity pay, that you may have to pay it back.
Some do think its a piss take, going back early just to claim full pay, but that's the game so play it.
Some do think its a piss take, going back early just to claim full pay, but that's the game so play it.
Jasandjules said:
What do the terms of the maternity policy say? And what did her MATB1 say?
From what I can find online, the council she's employed by (Wokingham) say she needs to give 21 days notice (which she did this morning after i pestered her). However the National Teachers Union seems to suggest it's 8 weeks notice that's needed. As always with these things, she's someone who prefers to talk to her head teacher rather than put anything in writing so I guess if it's the 8 weeks then we may have a bit of a difficult time proving when notice she was returning was given. She's been talking to them about coming back for September for a fair while now and even been into school and agreed what days she'll be working. It's only now the fact they seem to say she won't be paid for August that's the issue as she'll be having to do all of the planning work for the whole year so she should be paid for that.
Sadly with teachers, it can be that they don't see things quite as black and white as employer/employee. Trying to get her to send me a copy of the emails and maternity policy is proving more difficult than it should be. I also need to balance being a supportive husband as opposed to trying to take over!
Edited by MrChips on Monday 11th July 22:58
MrChips said:
Sadly with teachers, it can be that they don't see things quite as black and white as employer/employee. Trying to get her to send me a copy of the emails and maternity policy is proving more difficult than it should be. I also need to balance being a supportive husband as opposed to trying to take over!
Maternity policy is here:Edited by MrChips on Monday 11th July 22:58
https://wsh.wokingham.gov.uk/EasysiteWeb/getresour...
FunkyGibbon said:
Thanks for this! Dunno why I couldn’t find it! Seems to suggest it is the 21 days notice so we’ll see if they respond to yesterdays email. We kept it simple and just said we’re giving the notice of early return to work on 31 July in line with WBC policy.
Fingers crossed we don’t have to drag out an argument with them now!
Evanivitch said:
MrChips said:
Employed by the council and yep part of the NTU. She's one of these people that doesn't want to kick up a fuss despite it potentially costing us £2k!
Get her to talk to a friendly colleague that has young kids. Honestly, they all do it. Can't understand why the school thinks this case is different.I even had a colleague that did shared parental leave, his wife was the teacher. She "returned to work" every school holiday. He got the paternity leave.
Your wife needs to talk to her union rep.
MrChips said:
Sadly with teachers, it can be that they don't see things quite as black and white as employer/employee. Trying to get her to send me a copy of the emails and maternity policy is proving more difficult than it should be. I also need to balance being a supportive husband as opposed to trying to take over!
Indeed, IME (as one who has taken 5 schools to Tribunal thus far) they (and Universities) tend to consider minor details like employment law do not apply to them... I have thus far proven them wrong 5 times. ETA - I should not my occupation is employment lawyer, rather than a teacher who sues every school worked at.........
And yes I see I may have mis-read the post.
Edited by Jasandjules on Tuesday 12th July 21:23
Jasandjules said:
MrChips said:
Sadly with teachers, it can be that they don't see things quite as black and white as employer/employee. Trying to get her to send me a copy of the emails and maternity policy is proving more difficult than it should be. I also need to balance being a supportive husband as opposed to trying to take over!
Indeed, IME (as one who has taken 5 schools to Tribunal thus far) they (and Universities) tend to consider minor details like employment law do not apply to them... I have thus far proven them wrong 5 times. Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff