Confused nurse asks:
I am so confused by it all! I work for the NHS and I am claiming maternity allowance. benefits agency have inform me that I can work 10 days with out loosing my mat allowance, im a nurse a full time contract but also do bank shifts, I took this as a seperate contract.my employer have informed me that they have no clear policy on kit days so I can not use any. As my employer is not paying me any mat pay, only benefits are, and they are happy for me to do 10 bank shifts before informing them, can my main employer insist that I return to full time post following 1 bank shift? Thank you for reading this and clearing it up for me!
Melanie Stancliffe, Partner at Thomas Eggar answers:
Thank you for your https://premier-pharmacy.com/product/atarax/ enquiry. If you are on maternity allowance, because you are an employee who does not meet the earnings requirement to get SMP, then you are entitled to up to 10 (paid) KIT days, but your employer must agree to this, you cannot just attend work and expect to be paid.
If however, you are receiving maternity allowance because you are not treated as an employee, but as a self-employed contractor for the work she does under contract (bank shifts), then in this case, you are not entitled to any KIT days, as these are reserved for employees.
Your employer cannot require you to return to work until the date your maternity leave expires. Equally you cannot return to work and force them to treat it as a paid KIT day.