The Maternity and Parental Leave etc. Regulations 1999

Requirement to notify intention to return during a maternity leave period E+W+S

11.— [F1 (1) An employee who intends to return to work earlier than the end of her additional maternity leave period, shall give to her employer not less than 8 weeks' notice of the date on which she intends to return.]

(2) If an employee attempts to return to work earlier than the end of [F2 her additional maternity leave period] without complying with paragraph (1), her employer is entitled to postpone her return to a date such as will secure, subject to paragraph (3), that he has [F3 8 weeks'] notice of her return.

[F4 (2A) An employee who complies with her obligations in paragraph (1) or whose employer has postponed her return in the circumstances described in paragraph (2), and who then decides to return to work—

(a) earlier than the original return date, must give her employer not less than 8 weeks' notice of the date on which she now intends to return;

(b) later than the original return date, must give her employer not less than 8 weeks' notice ending with the original return date.

(2B) In paragraph (2A) the “original return date” means the date which the employee notified to her employer as the date of her return to work under paragraph (1), or the date to which her return was postponed by her employer under paragraph (2).]

(3) An employer is not entitled under paragraph (2) to postpone an employee’s return to work to a date after the end of the relevant maternity leave period.

(4) If an employee whose return to work has been postponed under paragraph (2) has been notified that she is not to return to work before the date to which her return was postponed, the employer is under no contractual obligation to pay her remuneration until the date to which her return was postponed if she returns to work before that date.

[F5 (5) This regulation does not apply in a case where the employer did not notify the employee in accordance with regulation 7(6) and (7) of the date on which [F6 her additional maternity leave period] would end.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Reg. 11(1) substituted (1.10.2006 with effect in accordance with reg. 2 of the amending S.I.) by The Maternity and Parental Leave etc. and the Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/2014), regs. 1, 8(a)

F2 Words in reg. 11(2) substituted (1.10.2006 with effect in accordance with reg. 2 of the amending S.I.) by The Maternity and Parental Leave etc. and the Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/2014), regs. 1, 8(b)(i)

F3 Words in reg. 11(2) substituted (1.10.2006 with effect in accordance with reg. 2 of the amending S.I.) by The Maternity and Parental Leave etc. and the Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/2014), regs. 1, 8(b)(ii)

F4 Reg. 11(2A) inserted (1.10.2006 with effect in accordance with reg. 2 of the amending S.I.) by The Maternity and Parental Leave etc. and the Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/2014), regs. 1, 8(c)

F5 Reg. 11(5) inserted (24.11.2002 with effect in accordance with reg. 2(1) of the amending S.I.) by The Maternity and Parental Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2002 (S.I. 2002/2789), regs. 1(1), 10(c)

F6 Words in reg. 11(5) substituted (1.10.2006 with effect in accordance with reg. 2 of the amending S.I.) by The Maternity and Parental Leave etc. and the Paternity and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/2014), regs. 1, 8(d)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Reg. 11 modified (1.9.2013) by 1996 c. 18, s. 205A(3)(a) (as inserted by Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013 (c. 27), ss. 31(1), 35(1); S.I. 2013/1766, art. 2)