360 Chapter 13Employment (1): The contract of employment, employment rights and dismissal
A female employee will qualify for statutory maternity pay if she meets three conditions:
(i) She must have 26 weeks’ continuous employment at a point 14 weeks before the
expected week of childbirth.
(ii) She must have stopped work due to the pregnancy.
(iii) Her weekly earnings must not be so low that no national insurance contributions have
to be paid.Statutory maternity pay
An employee is entitled to statutory maternity pay for 39 weeks, beginning when she goes
on ordinary maternity leave. However, this period must begin between 11 weeks and one
week before the baby is due. The employee has to give 28 days’ notice of an intention to go
on leave or, if this is not possible, as much notice as is possible. The employer can ask for a
medical certificate which confirms that the employee is pregnant and the date when the
birth is due. Pregnant women are also allowed time off work to receive ante-natal care.
There is no statutory right to maternity pay after the thirteenth week of maternity leave.
During the first six weeks of ordinary maternity leave the employee is entitled to 90 per
cent of her normal weekly pay, which is calculated by looking at the weekly pay in the
12 weeks before the maternity leave began. For the next 33 weeks, the employee is entitled
to a minimum of £124.88 a week or 90 per cent of her normal weekly pay, whichever is
lower. However, if the employee does not qualify for statutory maternity pay, she may be
entitled to a maternity allowance. Statutory maternity pay is subject to the usual deduc-
tions, such as tax and national insurance, and is paid at the same time as the employee
would normally have been paid.
It is not only pay that the employee is entitled to, but also other contractual benefits of
the job which she would normally have enjoyed.Figure 13.1The effect of responses to a unilateral change of employment terms