Maternity leave and the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has been an uncertain time for everybody, including both employers and employees.

However, as an employee who is on maternity leave, you may be concerned about what will happen if your leave is coming to an end, or whether there will be a job for you to return to.

As an employee, you have the right to take up to a year’s maternity leave in respect of each pregnancy. However, you can return earlier than this and it is only compulsory you take two weeks' leave, known as ‘compulsory maternity leave’. Most employees understandably take a lot longer than this but, as a new mother, the last thing you need to be worrying about is not having a job to return to following maternity leave. You may therefore feel you should return earlier in order to ensure the security of your job.