Employer has changed maternity policy - please advise

zimm143

Hi all,

I have been working for the same employer for five years. I am now 12 weeks pregnant. When I joined my company the maternity leave policy stated that when an employee returned to work she would given 25% extra pay for the first 12 months (rather than giving us anything extra on mat leave). Now I have received the updated policy from HR and it seems this benefit has been taken away. Now I know this is only recent as a member of my team has had 2 lots of mat leave in the last 3 years and she got this benefit. I imagine their argument will be that it is something our old parent company used to have and they have therefore phased it out. However - as far I can tell the contract I signed (I have never had a new employment contract since we moved away fully away from our parent company) stated I would receive this benefit - can they just take it away? It hardly seems fair, especially as colleagues have benefited from it, very recently.

Any thoughts appreciated.

terra_ferma

It seems to me that this is a matter of a variation of contract, if the benefit was a contractual right.
Here's where you can find more info about the process they should have followed to vary your contract.
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=816

Unless a variation is agreed by both parties they would need to give you a new contract. This would only apply if the maternity leave is included in your contract and (I believe) without disclaimers about possible changes.

jdturk

have you actually researched on here contract changes? There have been several topics on this but the basics are

1) Yes they can change the contract
2) If you disagree you need to lodge a grievance
3) if you do this they can sack you
4) if they sack you you could go to an employment tribunal
5) if they change the contract and you keep working this is likely to be seen as an acceptance of the new terms of contract and after a while you can't do anything about it

6) MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF ADVICE- Talk to ACAS!!!

This is all presuming this is a contract and not a handbook

iamana1ias

Highly unusual for maternity to be mentioned on a contract. It's usually part of the employee handbook which can be changed easily.

zimm143

Well my contract itself did not mention the mat leave - however it referred to policy docs which therefore make them part of the contract as far I can see.

Terra-ferma - thanks for the link, as you say it all rests on whether the maternity leave was contractual.

jdturk - What do you mean have I 'actually' researched contracts? Yes I've had a go but as this a forum I thought I'd post for advice - no one is obligated to reply if they think my question is silly. And don't be ridiculous - my employers are not going to sack me for lodging a grievance against altered terms and conditions - goodness please don't give out advice to the faint hearted - you'll terrify them!

jdturk

zimm143 wrote: »

Well my contract itself did not mention the mat leave - however it referred to policy docs which therefore make them part of the contract as far I can see.

Terra-ferma - thanks for the link, as you say it all rests on whether the maternity leave was contractual.

jdturk - What do you mean have I 'actually' researched contracts? Yes I've had a go but as this a forum I thought I'd post for advice - no one is obligated to reply if they think my question is silly. And don't be ridiculous - my employers are not going to sack me for lodging a grievance against altered terms and conditions - goodness please don't give out advice to the faint hearted - you'll terrify them!

They could sack you if you don't agree with the change of terms of a contract so its not ridiculous because it may be worth sacking someone and letting it go to an Employment Tribunal

As for research, you see the search button in the top right of this page, if you had typed in terms such as contract change etc you would have seen numerous posts on here on this topic.

I will admit I didn't explain it properly, if you did a grievance and they say its unfounded and you carry disagree with the change still they can sack you

iamana1ias

zimm143 wrote: »

Well my contract itself did not mention the mat leave - however it referred to policy docs which therefore make them part of the contract as far I can see.

And the policy docs can be changed at any time without consultation - they are not express contract terms

jdturk

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/EmploymentContractsAndConditions/DG_10037116

read the above, I hope that makes things more clearer regarding contract changes

mikey72

Enhanced pay after maternity leave could be discriminatory now if they don't give enhanced pay after paternity leave.

Savvy_Sue

zimm143 wrote: »

I imagine their argument will be that it is something our old parent company used to have and they have therefore phased it out. However - as far I can tell the contract I signed (I have never had a new employment contract since we moved away fully away from our parent company) stated I would receive this benefit - can they just take it away? It hardly seems fair, especially as colleagues have benefited from it, very recently.

Was this separation from the parent company under TUPE regulations? That might make a difference about whether or not they can do this.

mikey72 wrote: »

Enhanced pay after maternity leave could be discriminatory now if they don't give enhanced pay after paternity leave.

that is possibly why they've done it, although paternity leave is so short and unpaid, that I'm not sure a comparison to m/l would stand. Not my area of expertise, however I don't remember seeing this flagged anywhere in the employment updates I see from time to time.

mikey72

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Was this separation from the parent company under TUPE regulations? That might make a difference about whether or not they can do this.

that is possibly why they've done it, although paternity leave is so short and unpaid, that I'm not sure a comparison to m/l would stand. Not my area of expertise, however I don't remember seeing this flagged anywhere in the employment updates I see from time to time.

It's paid leave.