Maternity leave and working mums???

Hi there, I dont know if this is the right place so feel free to move it if needs be. I was wondering when do people generally start there maternity leave, and how long did they take before returning to work and did they return fulltime?

I am pregnant with No 1 and cant wait to stop working!!!! If I could I would never work again, of course that depends on winning big wednesday! But I have to give notice soon to my boss and I'm just not sure what I want to do.....would like some ideas from the more experiences mums out there.

Thanks

Hi nzpiper,

You can finish up whenever you want to really, it all depends on your money circumstances I guess. We couldn't afford for me to be off for months before the due date but I wish we could have! I am 35 weeks and still working but I am more than over it now, so if you can finish earlier I would definitley recommend it!

As for letting your boss know, the earlier the better is probably the best advise I can offer. That will also help with sorting out your paid parental leave with IRD. I told my boss at around 20 weeks when I intended to leave and we sorted most things out then. But we agreed that we would firm up the actual finishing date closer to the actual time.
And like kebakat said you are best to tell them you are taking the full 52 weeks whether you intend to go back earlier or not. If you only take 6 months and then want more it is really difficult to change it, but if you take the full 52 weeks you can go back anytime and only have to give 3-4 weeks notice to return.

I have 1 more week of work to go after today - and I can't wait

Hope that helped a little

I worked up until 3 weeks before due date, and would not reccomond working longer than that. Think I was on automatic piolt for the last week, and my first week off I was exhausted.

You really can finish when you want, but as others said, make sure you apply for 52 weeks off, 3 weeks notice is all you need to give to return so you can go back early if need be.

In our contract at work it's pretty standard to give 3 months notice if you are going to take parental leave (I'm not sure if this was in our parental leave policy or the act for parental leave). It's the same with DH though, he's taking a month off paid for by the company he works for rather than IRD and even he had to give 3 months notice for that!

Yep, completely agree with what mummy becks said - except I thought it was 3 months til due date not date you intend leaving. Otherwise thats the way I read it all too.

I actually gave them about 4.5 months notice before my due date, to give them plently of time to look for a replacement (theres more jobs than food techs at present), and plenty of time to get my paid parental leave stuff to the IRD.

I'm taking leave 3.5 weeks before due date - which now looks like a struggle but I know I'd be bored sitting around at home too long before bub is due. I'm taking 12 months, and like everyone said if I need to go back earlier I will be able to with 3 weeks notice. I'm hoping to go back only 4 days a week, yet to be negotiated .... but its really hard to say how I will feel in a years time - I may not want to go back or may miss work, and it will depend on our finances too.

I'll be finishing up 7 weeks before my Due Date. As I'm a teacher I thought it be best that I finish at the end of a term rather than in the middle of one. Seven weeks sounds so long to me, but I'm sure once I'm there it won't be!

Be careful with still working. If you are on PPL and you work even for 1 hour the PPL is stopped and you may end up geting nothing.

I finished work at 38 weeks, I had a 'desk job' so I wasn't on my feet all day. Personally I really could've worked an extra week, I went 10 days overdue with DD & by the time she arrived I was soooooooooooooo sick of the phone calls asking if we'd had our baby yet! All I could do was sit & wait, I really feel I could've stayed for my own sanity! Now I have #2 on it's way (due in June) & we're self employed now so I guess I could be working right up til due date & probably while in Labour, LOL!!!!

With DD I went back to work when she was 10 months old.

Good Luck with your bubba's everyone :-)

Can anyone tell me.....I havn't been in my job for 12 months so when I leave they don't have to keep the position open for me (fine by me, I'm not worried at all!!!). Thing is when I leave, I obviously want to get the paid parental leave.............which I'm sure you are entitled to if you've been employed for more than 6 months continuous, for over 20 hours per week. I comply with the above but if my position is filled by someone else, do I still get paid parental leave???

Hope that makes sense.

Mummy_becks you wrote "To get PPL you have to have the intention of going back to your job (even if you already know you don't want to)"

I'd love to return to my position, but realise they don't have to keep it open for me.......so am I still entitled???

Edited by Salifer

lol just typed a big explanation, but mummy becks u did a much better job then me!