Though about 40% of Australian women return to work in the first year after childbrith, there is little research on the effect of employment quality on maternal psychological distress. This article adds to the research by investigating whether there is a direct link between poor or inflexible working conditions and maternal wellbeing. Data was collected from 1,300 mothers participating in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, who had resumed full-time, part-time, or casual work. Poor quality employment was defined as employment without security, control, flexibility, or leave arrangements. The study found nearly half of the mothers returned to work earlier than they wanted to, and only one in five returned to jobs that provided optimal conditions for balancing their work and family commitments. Women who had the lowest ranked employment conditions were one and a half times more likely to report psychological distress than women with the most optimal employment conditions.