18A.—(1) An employee who intends to return to work earlier than the end of her maternity leave period shall give to her employer not less than seven days notice of the date on which she intends to return.
(2) If an employee returns to work as mentioned in paragraph (1) without notifying her employer of her intention to do so or without giving him the notice required by that paragraph her employer shall be entitled to postpone her return to a date such as will secure, subject to paragraph (3), that he has seven days notice of her return.
(3) An employer is not entitled under paragraph (2) to postpone an employee’s return to work to a date after the end of her maternity leave period.
(4) If an employee who has been notified under paragraph (2) that she is not to return to work before the date specified by her employer does return to work before that date the employer shall be under no contractual obligation to pay her remuneration until the date specified by him as the date on which she may return.