Maternity leave and sick pay 





A woman absent with a pregnancy-related illness has the same sick pay entitlement as any male or non-pregnant female employee (North Western Health Board v McKenna [2005] IRLR 895). She is not entitled to better pay.





There is no right to be paid statutory or contractual sick pay during maternity leave.


See also Chapter 7, page 225: Pregnancy, maternity and sex discrimination; Chapter 8, page 286 and 291: Sick pay and sickness absence, pregnancy and maternity; Chapter 10, page 358: Automatically unfair dismissal for reasons relating to pregnancy, maternity and childbirth; Chapter 11, pages 404 and 411: Redundancy selection and enhanced right to available vacancy on redundancy.