Can my Headteacher ask me to work in the school holidays I return for?

This is a question we get asked a lot. Occasionally we also have to help clients whose employers have suggested that they work in the holidays - either with planning tasks or physically coming in to the building.

Ultimately, your headteacher cannot ask you to work in the holidays if it is not something that you would normally do, or a task that all other staff in similar roles are being asked to do specifically over that time period only. Equally if it is voluntary (like holiday revision) for other staff, it must be voluntary for you too (and paid extra if this is also being offered to others!) Essentially it amounts to treating you differently, based purely on your status before the return period - of being on maternity or shared parental leave. Pregnancy and maternity are protected characteristics - which means your employer cannot treat you differently because of it. Under the Equality Act 2010 it would amount to discrimination. See also information here from Maternity Action on your right to protection from detriment or disadvantage when taking shared parental leave.

A question I think it is worth asking is whether someone returning from a period of extended sick leave/ compassionate leave/ two weeks paternity leave would be set tasks to do in the holiday at the start of their return. This simply does not happen - so why do they think it is ok to ask you?!

We have worked with many parents over the years whose headteachers have asked them to work in various capacities within the holidays (though please don't worry, this is maybe a few dozen in thousands of applications - most headteachers do not try this!!). Our initial advice is to go back to them and say that you have been advised this would be discrimantory - they are treating you differently because you were on a type of parental leave prior to the holiday - and could they please put in writing exactly what they are requesting so that you can seek formal advice on it. Nine times out of ten this stops them in their tracks.

If they do persist we advise consulting your union. The union line on this historically has been that staff use their professional judgment to complete any work during school holidays - but this work is not directed or checked, so to set you tasks would be discriminatory. When you do return to the classrooom you will have used your professional judgment to make sure you have done all you need to teach on your return!

If you are on the leadership scale this largely also applies to you - they must treat you how you are normally treated. Whilst you don't have directed hours, you are still entitled to be treated the same way you normally would be during the holidays. The vast majority of SLT members who work with us have no problems at all using this and are not asked to work in the holidays. If you do have responsibilities that you would normally carry out in a holiday - for example results day, or DSL tasks - then it would be reasonable for them to expect you to do these as normal.

The key point here is you must be treated the same as other staff in your school, so if you could normally book a holiday and go away for the whole holiday period without a thought for work - you absolutely can do this in return to work periods between SPL blocks too!