Our employment law solicitors are specialists in advising on your pregnancy and maternity rights.

New, and soon to be, mothers have a number of rights to help them adjust to life with a new born baby, including:

• Paid time off for antenatal appointments.
• Health and safety protection while pregnant and/or breastfeeding.
• All new mothers are required to take a period of compulsory maternity leave for 2 weeks following the birth of their child.
• Up to 52 weeks’ maternity leave (26 weeks ordinary maternity leave and 26 weeks additional maternity leave).
• Statutory maternity pay is paid at 90% of average earnings for the first six weeks and then a flat rate for the remaining 33 weeks. The flat rate is £140.98 per week from 2 April 2017.
• Those who do not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay may receive Maternity Allowance at a flat rate for the 39-week pay period.
• Rights to the benefits of all terms and conditions of employment whilst exercising her rights to maternity leave.
• Holiday entitlements continue to accrue whilst on maternity leave.
• The right to return to the same job at the end of the maternity leave.
• Priority for alternative employment when a redundancy situation arises during maternity leave.
• The right to request flexible working conditions on return to work.
• Protection from dismissal, detriment or discrimination by reason of pregnancy or maternity leave.
• Eligible parents caring for a child under the age of 5 years, can take unpaid leave for up to 4 weeks per year (up to a total of 18 weeks overall) to care for their child. The leave must be taken in whole weeks.

From April 2015, the Shared Parental Leave regime will be introduced.

Our Employment Advice Service

Our specialist Employment solicitors can assist you by: –

• Advising you on your rights and the legal procedures that you must follow,
• Assisting you in creating formal proposals for a return to work or flexible working,
• Helping you to prepare for any formal meeting, and
• Advising you on how to best deal with any navigate any issues that arise, including pursuing grievances or lodging a claim in the Employment Tribunal.

We are able to offer very competitive rates and fixed fee packages for our work. All our initial advice is provided by qualified solicitors and offered for free, so please call us on 0208 591 3366 or request a call back through the website.