Holiday entitlement

Employees on maternity, adoption, ordinary or additional paternity leave accrue holiday (both statutory and contractual, including any contractual right to paid bank holidays) during that leave. Since they cannot take this holiday during the leave period, they often build up large amounts of holiday to take at the end of the leave period. Adding holiday to the end of maternity leave is a good way of extending the amount of time spent at home once the right to paid maternity leave has run out.

If an employee is unable to use up their annual leave before starting maternity or adoption leave (because of where the holiday year start date falls in relation to the timing of that leave), they must be allowed to carry that holiday over to take after the maternity or adoption leave has ended (Gomez v Continental Industries del Caucho [2004] IRLR 407). This is the case even if the contract of employment says that an employee will forfeit holiday unused at the end of the holiday year (a “use it or lose it” clause).

An employee who returns to work part-time having worked full-time before maternity leave will accrue annual leave during maternity leave on a full-time basis. She must be allowed to take the whole amount of that leave even though she returns on reduced hours.