Rights of Working Parents
Maternity Rights
Pregnant workers have specific rights as employers have a general duty to protect their health and welfare. This includes carrying out a risk assessment of any working arrangements that might have an effect on pregnancy wherever they employ women of childbearing age, regardless of whether or not any employees are pregnant at the time.
Antenatal care
Pregnant workers have the right not to be unreasonably refused time off work for antenatal care. There is a right to be paid for time off at the appropriate hourly rate.
Maternity Leave
Every woman in work has the right to maternity leave.
To get ordinary maternity leave a woman must still be in work by the 14th week before the baby is due.
While on ordinary or compulsory leave she has the right to statutory and/or contractual maternity pay.
She also has the right to be told of any jobs that become available while she is on maternity leave, for which she might be interested in applying.
Maternity Pay
All pregnant employees are entitled to 26 weeks' Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML). However, only women who have worked for their employer for long enough can take a further 26 weeks' Additional Maternity Leave (AML).
Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid for 26 weeks. Six weeks is paid at 90% of average weekly earnings and 20 weeks at a flat rate (currently £108.85 a week) or 90% of average weekly earnings if that amount is lower
Maternity Allowance (MA) is paid by the state to most employed or self-employed women who don't qualify for SMP. It is paid for 26 weeks at a flat rate (currently £108.85 a week) or 90% of the woman's average weekly earnings if that amount is less.
Returning To Work
Employers now have a legal duty to calculate the employee's return-to-work date and to give her that information in writing. This should normally be done in response to (and within 28 days of) the woman's notification to the employer of her pregnancy.
Provided that a woman returns to work at the end of her ordinary maternity leave, she has the right to return to her own job.
Paternity Leave
Qualifying fathers or partners of someone on maternity or adoption leave have the right to paid paternity leave. The leave is specifically to care for the new baby or to provide support for the baby's mother. In order to qualify for this leave the father must be working continuously for 26 weeks ending up to week preceding date of expected birth.
Statutory Paternity Pay (SPP) amounts to a minimum of 90% of weekly pay or £100, whichever the lower of the two figures is.
Adoption Leave
An adoptive parent has the right to 26 weeks' ordinary adoption leave followed by 26 weeks' additional (unpaid) leave. During their ordinary adoption leave they have the right to Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP).
Parental And Dependency Leave
Working parents have the legal right to a period of unpaid leave of up to four weeks in a year and overall no more than 13 weeks within the first five years of their child's life. This can be up to 18 weeks if the child is disabled.
Flexible Working
An employee with responsibility for the upbringing of a child under the age of six (18 in the case of a disabled child) has the right to request, in writing, a flexible working pattern to enable them to care for the child.
Employers have a statutory duty to consider the application seriously, rejecting it only if there are clear business reasons for doing so.
