Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978

45 Right to return to work. E+W+S

(1) The right to return to work of an employee who has been absent from work wholly or partly because of pregnancy or confinement is, subject to the following provisions of this Act, a right to return to work with her original employer, or, where appropriate, his successor, at any time before the end of the period of twenty-nine weeks beginning with the week in which the date of confinement falls, in the job in which she was employed under the original contract of employment and on terms and conditions not less favourable than those which would have been applicable to her if she had not been so absent.

(2) In subsection (1) terms and conditions not less favourable than those which would have been applicable to her if she had not been so absent means, as regards seniority, pension rights and other similar rights, that the period or periods of employment prior to the employee’s absence shall be regarded as continuous with her employment following that absence [F1 but subject to the requirements of paragraph 5 of Schedule 5 to the Social Security Act 1989 (credit for the period of absence in certain cases)].

(3) If an employee is entitled to return to work in accordance with subsection (1), but it is not practicable by reason of redundancy for the employer to permit her so to return to work she shall be entitled, where there is a suitable available vacancy, to be offered alternative employment with her employer (or his successor), or an associated employer, under a new contract of employment complying with subsection (4).

(4) The new contract of employment must be such that—

(a) the work to be done under the contract is of a kind which is both suitable in relation to the employee and appropriate for her to do in the circumstances; and

(a) the provisions of the new contract as to the capacity and place in which she is to be employed and as to the other terms and conditions of her employment are not substantially less favourable to her than if she had returned to work in accordance with subsection (1).

Textual Amendments

F1 Words added (prosp.) by Social Security Act 1989 (c. 24, SIF 113:1), ss. 23, 33(2), Sch. 5 Pt. II para. 15

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 45 modified by S.I. 1985/1846, reg. 5(9) and S.I. 1989/901, art. 3, Sch.