Maternity leave & work experience

[Beatrix]

Hello everybody,

I need help with clarification about length of work experience and maternity leave and leave during the pregnancy (I had a problem and was in hospital). I will explain my situation to be clearer.

In June I will be turning up 10 years of work experience during which I had a to take a sick leave in total of 6,5 months prior to the maternity leave on account of problems during pregnancy (May 2011- November 2011). After that I was on paid maternity leave in duration of 11 months (November 2011-October 2012). During both of that period I was not paid by my employer, but national health insurance agency (that is the policy in Croatia).
So in total of this soon to be 10 years of work experience I have been on maternity and sick leave for 17 months, but it was paid and not by employer. I left this employer one month after I returned to work.
My employer reference is not showing that I was on leave, or better to say my employer reference shows that I was employed and working during the whole time (June 2009-October 2012).

Does anybody know whether this can be counted towards work experience? Can I in June claim 10 years of experience (for EOI) or 8,5?

Regards, Beatrix

[dharder]

During the time of your absence, did the contract of your employment continue? In other words, were you an employee with this employer for the duration of those 10 years? In that case, I don't see any need to discount the years.

[Natalia79]

Althought my absense was shorter than yours - only 6 months on maternity leave , I didn't mention or deduct this time out of my total number of years of experience. I went with the dates of employment in the contract.

[Beatrix]

Natalia 79 thanks for sharing.
dharder - yes, I was employed the whole time (not for the same employer, but I didn't have any gaps between employment).

[dharder]

dharder - yes, I was employed the whole time (not for the same employer, but I didn't have any gaps between employment).

Then I wouldn't worry about it.

[Beatrix]

Thanks!