Support those returning from parental leave?

AOP head of employment, Liz Stephenson, explains how employers can comply with their obligations towards those returning from maternity, paternity, and shared parental leave

Returning from maternity, paternity or shared parental leave can be a nervewracking time for employees, so it is in everyone’s interests that any possible issues are discussed and addressed as soon as possible.

During maternity leave

You should ensure the employee is kept informed of any changes in the business, particularly: Any jobs being advertised Any promotion opportunities. They should also be included in any workplace consultation for redundancy or re-organisation. Someone on maternity leave can carry out up to 10 ‘keeping in touch’ days without bringing the leave to an end, and similar rights exist for shared parental leave. More information on keeping in touch days is available via Maternity Action.

Working hours

It is a good idea to have a flexible working policy that is publicised to all staff. If a request is going to be made it is helpful to know in good time, as there are statutory requirements regarding how you deal with such requests. More information can be found via the AOP’s Managing flexible working page. There is no right to have it granted, but the employee could have legal remedies if the flexible working request is not dealt with properly, or if it is dealt with in a discriminatory way.

Working arrangements

Before or when they return, it may be wise to allow the employee to ease themselves back into the workplace by, for example, offering training on any equipment before they start testing patients. You should be prepared to offer slightly longer testing times, for example, if they indicate that this would be helpful.

Health and safety

You have a duty to provide a safe workplace, and to carry out risk assessments in respect of pregnant employees, as well as those who are breastfeeding or have given birth in the past six months. More information is available via the Health and Safety Executive.

Breastfeeding mothers

As an employer you must provide somewhere suitable for an employee to rest if they’re breastfeeding. You’re not legally required to provide somewhere for employees to breastfeed or express milk, but they may ask if you can organise something – for example, a private room and a fridge to store the milk.

Dependent leave

It may help to highlight to staff any policies you have around dependent leave. You can highlight how and when you should be informed of the need to take any such leave. Be aware, though, that the nature of it means their need may be urgent or unexpected. You may also ensure that employees who need to be contactable during working hours (for example by nursery or care providers) are allowed to check their phone and to provide the practice phone number to the relevant people.

Future changes

The law is constantly changing. Some things to look out for include:

Changes to redundancy protection for new mothers

Currently, if an employee is made redundant during pregnancy or maternity leave they must be offered any suitable available vacancy. This right is to be extended to those who have returned from maternity leave within the past six months.

Changes to flexible working rules

It was announced in December 2022 that the law (in England, Wales and Scotland) is due to change as follows, although it is unclear precisely when this may happen:

The right to make a flexible working request will be a day one right, as opposed to the current arrangement where employees need 26 weeks’ continuous service Employees will no longer need to explain the effect their request might have on their employer

Employees will have the right to make two flexible working requests every 12 months instead of one Employers will be required to consult with their employees on other options before rejecting a flexible working request

The deadline for an employer to decide if they will approve or reject a flexible working request will be shortened from three months to two months.