LRD guides and handbook October 2014

Leave and pay for working parents - a guide for trade union reps

Chapter 1

Maternity leave

[ch 1: pages 6-7]

Employees who are pregnant are entitled to a full year of maternity leave, regardless of length of service. They are not obliged to take the full year. However, a mother must take a minimum of two weeks after giving birth, or four weeks she works in a factory. Unless there are different contractual entitlements, the statutory rules on maternity leave are split into two different parts — Ordinary Maternity Leave (OML) and Additional Maternity Leave (AML) which have different rules on entitlements for those on maternity leave.