105.—(1) An employee who satisfies prescribed conditions may be absent from work at any time during an additional maternity leave period.
(2) An additional maternity leave period is a period calculated in accordance with regulations made by the Department.
(3) Regulations under paragraph (2) may allow an employee to choose, subject to prescribed restrictions, the date on which an additional maternity leave period ends.
(4) Subject to Article 106, an employee who exercises her right under paragraph (1)—
(a)is entitled, for such purposes and to such extent as may be prescribed, to the benefit of the terms and conditions of employment which would have applied if she had not been absent,
(b)is bound, for such purposes and to such extent as may be prescribed, by obligations arising under those terms and conditions (except in so far as they are inconsistent with paragraph (1)), and
(c)is entitled to return from leave to a job of a prescribed kind.
(5) In paragraph (4)(a) “terms and conditions of employment”
(a)includes matters connected with an employee's employment whether or not they arise under her contract of employment, but
(b)does not include terms and conditions about remuneration.
[F2(5A) In paragraph (4)(c), the reference to return from leave includes, where appropriate, a reference to a continuous period of absence attributable partly to additional maternity leave and partly to ordinary maternity leave.]
(6) The Department may make regulations specifying matters which are, or are not, to be treated as remuneration for the purposes of this Article.
(7) The Department may make regulations making provision, in relation to the right to return under paragraph (4)(c), about—
(a)seniority, pension rights and similar rights;
(b)terms and conditions of employment on return.