Maternity Pay

LegacyUser

Hi All,

I have a question about maternity pay (not maternity leave)

If a company has previously paid workers full pay while on maternity, can they change this for another worker due to go on leave, and not pay without updating employees of the change? The company are now telling me that I will not be paid anything during my leave by them, that what I will get is the amount from the Dept of Social Welfare, paid to me by the DSW.

Here are the facts:

Nothing in the staff handbook that is in current use, mentions maternity pay, however this version is a newer version to the one I would have read when I started. It is possible (but I cannot prove) that the line regarding pay was deleted entirely.

The handbook only discusses statutory maternity leave, not pay.

There is no union so I cant avail of that route.

Person who deals with HR is the boss who is the one who I believe brought in this change.

There is nothing regarding maternity in my contract of employment - either pay or leave.

So, there are two possibilites: one, that the handbook was changed at some point and the changes not circulated, or that it was never in the handbook and never on the contracts but there was a tradition of it being paid.

Can I be treated differently from my colleagues who got full pay on Maternity leave in the past? What can I do about it?

Eoin

I know of a few employers who've stopped paying maternity pay. But I don't know how they did it - whether it had to be done by agreement or whether they could just do it on their own.

This page suggests that it has to be done by agreement, but you need to talk to a legal or employment professional.

Contractual terms and work practices
Legally there is a distinction between the terms in your contract of employment and work practices.

Contractual terms include pay, hours of work, sick pay and pension scheme. All of your contractual terms may not be in the written statement of your terms and conditions of employment. Some of your contractual terms could be in your staff handbook, a pension scheme booklet or a collective agreement. You can read more about contractual terms in our document on contract of employment. Changes to these terms must be agreed between you and your employer.

Work practices can include breaks and rostering, for example. Details of these may also be in your staff handbook and your employer may change these work practices without your consent. It is considered reasonable for an employer to update work practices or processes to save money or increase efficiency.

m2b

Just wondering if you got any advice regarding your maternity pay situation. I'm in a similar position now myself... boss paid another employee while she was on maternity leave on 3 different occasions, ie; he paid her the difference between what she got off the social welfare and her weekly pay, she had her last child 4yrs ago. We dont have contracts, I presumed he would do the same for me but now he's saying he can't afford to make up the difference between what I will get from the DSW and my weekly wages. Can he legally do this? Surely you can't treat one employee different to another? Or are they allowed to use the recession as an excuse to change a precedent set by them in the past?

Eoin

I know of a few companies that have had to stop paying maternity pay. You really need to get professional advice though to go through the fine print. Best of luck with the baby.

nicechick!

Pregnant Worker wrote: »

Hi All,

I have a question about maternity pay (not maternity leave)

If a company has previously paid workers full pay while on maternity, can they change this for another worker due to go on leave, and not pay without updating employees of the change? The company are now telling me that I will not be paid anything during my leave by them, that what I will get is the amount from the Dept of Social Welfare, paid to me by the DSW.

Here are the facts:

Nothing in the staff handbook that is in current use, mentions maternity pay, however this version is a newer version to the one I would have read when I started. It is possible (but I cannot prove) that the line regarding pay was deleted entirely.

The handbook only discusses statutory maternity leave, not pay.

There is no union so I cant avail of that route.

Person who deals with HR is the boss who is the one who I believe brought in this change.

There is nothing regarding maternity in my contract of employment - either pay or leave.

So, there are two possibilites: one, that the handbook was changed at some point and the changes not circulated, or that it was never in the handbook and never on the contracts but there was a tradition of it being paid.

Can I be treated differently from my colleagues who got full pay on Maternity leave in the past? What can I do about it?

This is interesting so its not actually written into your contract I'm not sure you'd be in the position to fight this, at the time your colleague may have had a different contract with this included maybe not she could also be earning more or less. I would say it would be up to you to prove that the president has been set and that you feel entitled to it

Most companies don't pay maternity leave and its a serious perk if you do!

m2b

cheers Eoin, I may just have to do that cos i do genuinely feel i'm being unfairly treated!

Eoin

Try and gather as much documentation around your employer's policies etc.