UK Offence Report

Enforcement and Offences

regulation 3(2) of The Maternity (Compulsory Leave) Regulations 1994

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

2 An employer guilty of an offence consisting of

a breach of

a prohibition imposed on him by regulation

2 above shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

2 on the standard scale.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
an employer
Conduct
contravening a requirement of the instrument
Fault element
Strict liability
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that an employer meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision.

What would breach regulation 3(2)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Maternity (Compulsory Leave) Regulations 1994, whatever the reason for doing it.
  2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£500
Standard scale
Level 2
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
Status not determined
Made
21 September 1994
In force from
19 October 1994
Extent
E+W+S

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations, which apply to Great Britain, make provisions which are necessary to give full effect to article 8(2) of Council Directive No 92/85/EEC (OJ no. L348/1). Article 8(2) provides that maternity leave must include compulsory maternity leave of at least two weeks allocated before and/or after confinement in accordance with national legislation and/or practice. Regulation 2 provides that an employee entitled to maternity leave shall not work or be permitted to work by her employer during the period of two weeks beginning with the date of her confinement. Regulation 3(1) provides that the enforcement and offences provisions of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the provisions of the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1989 shall apply to the prohibition imposed upon an employer by regulation 2 of these Regulations as if the prohibition had been imposed by regulations made under section 15 of that Act. The effect of applying the 1989 Regulations to the prohibition will be that the question of whether the Health and Safety Executive or a particular local authority is the enforcing authority in respect of the prohibition will be determined in accordance with those Regulations. Regulation 3(2) provides that an employer who is guilty of an offence consisting of a breach of a prohibition imposed by regulation 2 shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.72.

Basis
the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
Confidence
0.72 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source