Return to work after maternity leave

Although, according to the popular opinion, it is difficult to reconcile the birth of a child and work, it should not be forgotten that the provisions of the Labor Code protect an employed mother. After maternity leave, she should be treated like any other employee who was working normally at that time.

If the mother decides to return to work after the end of the maternity leave, the employer is obliged to provide her with the place of work which she was employed at before the period of dismissal. The simplest solution is, of course, to return to the previously held position, but sometimes it may turn out to be impossible. In this case, the employer will be obliged to provide his employee with an equivalent or different position, but corresponding to her qualifications. This obligation results directly from Art. 183 of the Code.

Due to the fact that an employee has the right to return to a previously occupied or equivalent position, the same applies to the remuneration. The employee should receive them in the amount that she would have received had there been no break in work. Moreover, this applies not only to the period before the leave, but also to all events that took place during maternity leave. Therefore, all bonuses or increases awarded during this period should be taken into account when calculating the remuneration for mother returning from vacation.

It is important that the employee does not have to return to work immediately after the end of the maternity leave. Maternity leave does not deprive her of the right to take a holiday leave - both overdue and current.This leave is granted to the full-time employee, and the application for it is binding on the employer - he cannot give a negative answer. In addition, a working mother may also use the days of caring for a healthy child specified in the code.