Must an employee give eight weeks’ notice to their employer to return to work early from maternity leave, or can they return sooner if the employer agrees to waive the eight-week notice requirement?

For information about maternity leave, generally, see Practice Note: Maternity leave.

After a period of ordinary maternity leave (OML) or additional maternity leave (AML), the employee has a right to return to work. The right is to return at the end of the AML, if no earlier date of return has been notified, or to return on a date duly notified to the employer as the employee's intended date of return (Maternity and Parental Leave etc Regulations 1999 (MAPLE 1999), SI 1999/3312, regs 18, 18A).

The employee is not required to give notice of her intention to return if she takes the full period of her maternity leave entitlement. Notice requirements apply if the employee wishes to return early (MAPLE 1999, SI 1999/3312, reg 11).

See Practice Note: Maternity leave, in particular the main section dealing with ‘Right to return to work after