extended maternity benefits in effect from Sunday 5
October – implications for pensions unclear
The Maternity and Parental Leave etc and the Paternity
and Adoption Leave (Amendment) Regulations 2008 affect employees
whose expected week of childbirth begins on or after 5 October 2008
or employees whose child is expected to be placed with them for
adoption on or after that date.
The Regulations remove the distinction between the rights and
obligations of employees during “ordinary” and "additional"
maternity and adoption leave.
The Regulations now provide that, with the exception of terms
and conditions concerning remuneration, an employee taking
additional maternity or adoption leave is, like an employee taking
ordinary maternity or adoption leave, entitled to the benefit of
(and bound by any obligations arising from) all the terms and
conditions of employment that would have applied if she had not
been absent.
However, the position with regard to pension benefits throughout
periods of ordinary and additional maternity and adoption leave
remains uncertain. Social security law already provides that
pension benefits must be maintained during paid maternity and
adoption leave. However, it is not clear whether pension
contributions should be maintained during unpaid ordinary and
additional maternity and adoption leave.
Watch this space.
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