Section 6 provides that in the event of the hospitalisation of the child, an employer may agree to an employee's request to postpone her maternity leave and/or additional maternity leave and allow her to return to work on an agreed date. It will only be possible to postpone maternity leave where the employee has taken at least 14 weeks maternity leave, four of which are after the end of the week of the birth. This may appear to be overly restrictive, but we are constrained by the Pregnant Workers Directive which provides for a continuous period of 14 weeks maternity leave. Where the employer agrees to a postponement of maternity leave and/or additional maternity leave and where the employee has adhered to certain notification requirements, the employee shall be entitled to take her postponed leave in one continuous block, which will be known as resumed leave. The resumed leave must commence not later than seven days after the discharge of the child from hospital. In the case of the employee's absence from work due to sickness during the period of the postponement, the employee is deemed to have commenced their resumed leave unless they opt to forfeit the right to resumed leave. The absence from work due to sickness shall be treated in the same manner as any absence from work due to sickness.