Ordinary Maternity Leave
[ch 1: pages 7-8]The first 26 weeks of maternity leave are classed as Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML). An employee continues to be employed during this period which counts towards her period of continuous employment for the purposes of entitlement to other statutory employment rights, such as redundancy pay, grade, pension rights and other length of service payments.
An employee on OML continues to benefit from the terms and conditions of employment that would have applied to her had she remained at work, except for wages or salary. On her return to work, she is entitled to benefit from any general improvements that would have been made to her rate of pay or other terms and conditions.
If an employee chooses to return to work in the first 26 weeks of maternity leave she has the right to return to exactly the same job.