For practical purposes, maternity leave, when taken in a block period, includes any non-working days, rest days and public holidays which fall during that period.
The 16 weeks of maternity leave is equivalent to 112 days (7 days a week x 16 weeks) and the 112 days maternity leave would include rest days, off days and public holidays.
If a flexible maternity leave arrangement has been agreed upon, the maternity leave would be computed based on working days and would be in addition to non-working days, rest days and public holidays.
The number of days of maternity leave the employee is entitled to consume flexibly should be equal to the number of working days she would be away from work if she were to consume the extended leave in a block.
If a female employee normally works a 5.5 work-week and is taking the last 4 weeks of her maternity leave flexibly, the number of days of maternity leaves to be flexed is to be computed as follows:
4 weeks X 5.5 days = 22 working days