Rights of parents-to-be and new parents at work


Employees exercising their rights to maternity, paternity or adoption leave and pay have the right not to be dismissed for that reason. In addition, a woman has the legal right not to be dismissed or made redundant for pregnancy-related reasons during her pregnancy and for the whole of her maternity leave. She has the right to take maternity leave and to receive either Statutory Maternity Pay or Maternity Allowance, provided she earns enough to qualify. 



The period of Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Allowance and Adoption Pay is 39 weeks. 



Only employees can claim the different types of statutory parental leave, including maternity leave. Agency workers, in particular, cannot claim these rights, unless they are employees of the employment agency.



Although agency workers are not entitled to Statutory Maternity Leave, they may qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay. Even though agency workers are not entitled to take maternity leave, if they have a directly employed partner he or she may be able to take the leave under the new shared parental leave rules (see below), provided they qualify.