Returning From Maternity or Parental Leave

Members who return from maternity or parental leave would naturally expect to return to the same job they have always done. Regulation 2(1) of the Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999 says: ‘job’, in relation to an employee returning after additional maternity leave (or parental leave) means the nature of the work which she is employed to do in accordance with her contract and the capacity and place in which she is so employed;”

In a recent case heard by the Employment Appeals Tribunal, a primary school teacher was allocated a different class to teach upon her return from maternity leave. She claimed that this was not a return to the “same job” as when she left. Whereas previously she taught the reception class, she was told that upon her return she would teach year two, something she had no previous experience of doing.

The question which arose in this case was whether the job she returned to was classed as the “job in which she was employed to do before her absence”.

The court found that the appellant was employed as a teacher and not specifically as a teacher of a particular class. As a teacher, she could be required to teach any class within her school.

However, the court did find that she had suffered a detriment on a related matter because the teacher while on her maternity leave had not been asked, unlike all her colleagues, which class she preferred to teach in the following year. Blundell v. St Andrew’s Catholic Primary School EAT 0329/06

Clearly this case shows that when considering the suitability of jobs and the application of the law, the small print in a member’s contract will be particularly relevant. Any member who has concerns on this matter is advised to contact their ACM regional officer.