Returning to work 




An employer cannot refuse to let an employee return to work early (that is, before the statutory end date of their leave), as long as that employee has given at least eight weeks’ notice of their early return. The right to return to your original job depends on the type of leave you have taken, as follows: 



• Returning after ordinary maternity or adoption leave: A woman who returns from ordinary maternity or adoption leave (that is, within the first six months of leave) is entitled to return to the job she was employed to do before the absence. This right to return is unaffected by adding on up to four weeks of unpaid parental leave.




• Returning after additional maternity or adoption leave: Someone returning from additional maternity or adoption leave has less comprehensive rights. They have the right to return to the same job, but if that is not reasonably practicable, to another suitable and appropriate alternative job. The right is to return on terms and conditions no less favourable than if the leave had not been taken, with seniority and pension rights unaffected. 




• Returning after shared parental leave: An employee returning to work after taking SPL is entitled to return to the same job as long as their total leave period, after adding together all maternity, paternity, adoption and SPL, comes to 26 weeks or less. Unpaid parental leave of four weeks can be added without affecting this right. Where the total number of weeks of maternity, paternity, adoption and SPL exceed 26 weeks, or more than four weeks’ unpaid parental leave have been taken, the right is to return to the same job unless it is not reasonably practicable, in which case, it is a right to return to a suitable and appropriate job on no less favourable terms and conditions, with seniority and pension rights unaffected. 




An employer cannot refuse to take a woman on maternity leave back because they prefer their temporary replacement (see, for example, SG Petch Limited v English-Stewart [2012] UKEAT/0213/12/JQJ). This would be maternity discrimination and an automatically unfair dismissal (see Chapters 7 and 10).



The “same job” means the job the woman was employed to do under her contract:



The job to be returned to should be the one the employee was actually required to perform under her contract before she went on maternity leave. This will very often be different from the job she was originally recruited for. In particular, it is not enough just to look at the job title. For example:


A woman returning from maternity leave has the right to request flexible working as long as she has 26 weeks’ service (see page 307).