Maternity leave letter help

[Cherished]

I can't believe I've left this to the last minute, I have a meeting with my boss at 9am and I am going to give him my letter to take maternity leave and I was supposed to have called whoever I need to and ask them a question, but now I don't have time so I'm hoping someone here will know.

I would love to take the full 12 months maternity leave however at this stage financially I will only feel comfortable taking 6 months off (7 max) and even when I do go back I am hoping that I will only need to work on the days dh is home to look after bubs which will mean I could work anywhere from 10-28 hours a week. I've talked to my employer about this and he agrees that it's really hard to tell what my circumstances will be to make any definite decision. But I need to give written notice and to cover my own butt I would like to say that I will be taking 7 months maternity leave and then return to my current position which is 28 hours a week over 3 days. So my question is, if I put that in my official letter and I then want to change it down the track while I'm on leave due to being in a better financial position, am I able to? and how much notice would i need to give my employer of my changes? TIA!

[Pandora]

I'm not sure if it's legistlated or if it's by employer, but both times I've taken mat leave ( different employers) it was stipulated that you can change your leave end date once. After that it's up to them whether they let you change it again.

[grub17]

hey hun

Personally I would state you are taking 12 months leave from this date to this date.
with my work i Have to give one month's notice before i want to return and that's it and I can return at any time in that 12 months. I'd say that is pretty standard so i'd be opting for the full entitlement and then fiddling down the track.

And yes, you can say in your 'as per convseration with boss, I would like to be considered for part time employment upon my return'.

good luck! and before anything becomes official they need to reply with the formal paper work, so don't feel that once you've written this letter its locked in and unmoveable. You present the letter, then they present you a 'contract' sort of letter that you need to sign and which they have signed so you are both agreeign to the conditions. Your first letter is presenting them with your intentions and wants.

[Cherished]

Thanks for the reply girls.

I've done some ringing around after my meeting with my employer (who I ended up telling that I will give him a letter later in the week). I found out that I can say that I am going to have less than the 12 months off from a certain date and if I want to change it later on I just need to give 4 weeks written notice. If however I say I will take the full 12 months now my employer does not have to let me come back earlier if I want to, it is totally up to them. So to cover my butt (financially anyway) I am going to tell them I will take 7 months and return to my current hours and role after that. At least then dh and I have gave got plenty of time to improve our finances and hopefully I will be able to take the full 12 months or not go back at all I also need to specify what hours I will be returning to and anything different to what I put in that letter is up to them to agree on. So again to cover my own butt I will just say that I will return to what I do now and i can always then change my mind and work less if that is going to suit better. I know they will have staff to cover my hours if that ends up happening so I don't think I'd be doing the wrong thing by them, instead I am just making sure I have a job to go back to if I need it

Thanks again