Everyone is wrongly reporting the consultation on owner-employee contracts as requiring women to give 16 weeks' notice to return from maternity leave. Even the Minister's statement makes this mistake! The law does not require a woman to give ANY notice to return from maternity leave if she takes her full 52 weeks, she is ONLY required to give 8 weeks' notice (currently) if she wishes to return to work EARLY. Under these proposals a woman will be required to give 16 weeks notice if she wishes to return to work early i.e. before the end of her 52 weeks' maternity leave. For example, if an owner-employee wishes to take only 26 weeks' maternity leave, she will have to give notice 16 weeks before that to return to work early i.e. by week 10 of her maternity leave when her baby is probably only a few weeks old. This means employers will have some employees giving 8 weeks notice of early return and owner-employees giving 16 weeks notice of early return. Not helpful for employers and not very family-friendly.
Everyone is wrongly reporting the consultation on owner-employee contracts as requiring women to give 16 weeks' notice to return from maternity leave. Even the Minister's statement makes this mistake! The law does not require a woman to give ANY notice to return from maternity leave if she takes her full 52 weeks, she is ONLY required to give 8 weeks' notice (currently) if she wishes to return to work EARLY. Under these proposals a woman will be required to give 16 weeks notice if she wishes to return to work early i.e. before the end of her 52 weeks' maternity leave. For example, if an owner-employee wishes to take only 26 weeks' maternity leave, she will have to give notice 16 weeks before that to return to work early i.e. by week 10 of her maternity leave when her baby is probably only a few weeks old. This means employers will have some employees giving 8 weeks notice of early return and owner-employees giving 16 weeks notice of early return. Not helpful for employers and not very family-friendly.