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 214: Pregnancy, maternity and sex discrimination; Chapter 8, page 272: Sick pay and sickness absence, pregnancy and maternity; Chapter 10, page 342: Automatically unfair dismissal for reasons relating to pregnancy, maternity and childbirth; Chapter 11, pages 390 and 398: Redundancy selection and enhanced right to available vacancy on redundancy.