(1) Subject to section 24, an employee who is absent from work while on paternity leave shall be entitled to return to work -

(a) with the employer with whom the employee was working immediately before the commencement of the period of absence, or where during the employee's absence from work there was a change of ownership of the undertaking in which the employee was employed immediately before the absence, with the owner (in this Act referred to as the "successor") of the undertaking at the expiry of the period of absence,

(b) in the job which the employee held immediately before the commencement of that period,

(c) under the contract of employment under which the employee was employed immediately before the commencement of that period or, where a change of ownership such as is referred to in paragraph (a) has occurred, under a contract of employment with the successor which is identical to the contract under which the employee was employed immediately before the commencement of that period, and (in either case) under terms or conditions -

(i) not less favourable than those that would have been applicable to the employee, and