How to manage: Employers disregard legal protection for workers on maternity leave at their peril

The courts and statutory tribunals tend to take a zero-tolerance approach to any infringement of an employee’s rights in this situation

The Maternity Protection Act provides that an employee is entitled to return to work after a period of maternity leave to the job which she held immediately before her maternity leave. Picture: Getty Images

Maternity leave is very much in the news right now. For the first time in the history of the state, a serving cabinet minister has taken it.

While Helen McEntee, the Minister for Justice, will likely resume her portfolio without issue when she returns to work, many female employees encounter difficulties in doing so and they have rights and remedies to avail of in any such situation.

The starting point is the fact that Ireland ...