Employment law SOS: maternity/paternity leave

Eligible parents can take up to six months' paternity leave if the child's mother returns to work before she has used her full 12 months of maternity leave. Your supervisor has to take the leave in complete weeks and in one continuous period, and he can take it as early as 20 weeks but no more than a year after the birth. Assuming he is the biological father of the child or husband or long-term partner of the mother, your supervisor must have worked for you for at least 26 weeks continuously by the time it is 15 weeks before the baby's due date. At the same time, the mother must be entitled to statutory maternity leave, statutory maternity pay or statutory maternity allowance. And she must have returned to work and have taken at least two weeks of maternity leave. There are specific forms that your supervisor must complete and he must tell you of his intention to take paternity leave in writing at least eight weeks before the start date. Most employees who earn above the lower earnings limit for National Insurance purposes will be entitled to additional statutory paternity pay (ASPP) from their employers. However, employers are able to recover 92% of this – and small employers with National Insurance contributions of under £45,000 can recover 104.5% of ASPP, with the extra 4.5% covering the cost of administering the payment.