Maternity leave for casuals.

Hi,

I just had a conversation with my boss about Mat leave. I had DD in May 2009 and was not due back to work until the beginning of May 2010. I am a casual employee and came back to work in Oct 2009. This was much earlier then I had expressed in my Mat leave letter and I only did so to help my boss and he let my bring DD to work with me.
I am due to have DD2 in Nov. Since I started back in Oct 2009 and will be working right up till I go into labour pretty much I figured that it was 1 year continuous work and that I would be entitled to another 52 weeks of mat leave. My boss seems to think that I am not. Reasons been that my official return to work date was May 2010 and that it I am only entitled to Mat leave once as I am casual. I have tried to look up sites but can not find anything about how it works for casuals that want Mat leave twice.

As far as I can see it is I will meet the criteria of 1 year continuous work before I take leave again.

Does anyone know how it works or where I can get the information I need.

TIA.

If you have worked in the same role for 12 months as a casual you may be entitled to the 52 weeks. I would also argue that you didn't leave the company after the first lot of leave so you actually should have continuity of service from when you started minus the time you had off.

On the other hand if you didn't get anything in writing about returning to work early than originally intended then your boss may have a point. Although if you never had any timelines set in writing then he has no case and you can demonstrate you have been working regular hours for the 12 months then you can prove your service.

I didn't think you had to have another twelve months of service in between returning to work and going on mat leave. That's more like leaving your employer and going back again.
I would have thought you should still have continuity of service.
Did you hve anything in writing about going back early?

I don't have anything in writing with my boss. He called me on a Monday in Oct and I started on the Friday of that same week. I know that it says that a letter of intention to return to work 4 weeks prior can be written, but my boss asked me to come back. I did contact family Tax benifit so they knew that my Estimated income would be changed. they would have a record of that. Even if I did come back early, I will have worked 1 year continuously and so far that is all I can see that needs to be done.

Do you have copies of payslips to show from when you returned?

I agree with Nai that if you were there before you went on mat leave for 1st baby then you havent left the company.

GL hun

Thanks for your replies ladies. I have payslips and bank statements to show when I went back to work. Plus a log book at work that is filled in weekly. I guess I just need to find something in writing or online to show my boss my entitlements.

ways2work.business.Vic.gov.au

It's a victorian site but parental leve legisltion is federal.

Fair work australia is a good place too.

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I didn't think you had to have another twelve months of service in between returning to work and going on mat leave. That's more like leaving your employer and going back again.
I would have thought you should still have continuity of service.
Did you hve anything in writing about going back early?

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My thoughts too. My GF (although FT permanent) went on Mat leave & ended up pg with # 2 whilst on Mat leave was still able to take Mat leave again for 12 months b/c she has more than 12 months continuous service with the company overall, not from when she returned from her original mat leave (if that makes sense)

I am casual and have takenn maternity leave twice. You do not need to be back at work for 12 month before you take maternity leave again. You could take it 3 months after returning if you wished, because your 'term of employment' is longer then 12 months, as you are still an employee whilst on maternity leave. This is the information provided to me be my HR department.