Query re Career Break/maternity leave

Hoping someone can give us an answer on this as my OH's employers don't seem to have a foggiest

She's on 3 year career break, scheduled to finish in mid May. We had a baby in Jan and had she been at work, her maternity leave would have finished in late June. Therefore if she returns to work in mid May, she would be going back before her maternity leave had finished.

The questions are

• Should she be going back to work in mid May or in June?
• If she doesn't go back until June should she be put back on the payroll in mid May (comp does paid maternity leave) until June?

We can't get a straight answer out of her HR dept as to when she is actually meant to report back to work and in terms of sorting out childminding etc it's a bit of a mare. Therefore if anyone can help us educate her employers, it would be appreciated

Check Citizensinformation.ie

As she has not been working (I presume she's not been working elsewhere while on LOA) and not been paying PRSI, she is not entitled to (government) Maternity Benefit. So she's not on maternity leave, and the company won't be topping up her salary. I'd expect her to go back to work in May.