Maternity Benefits...what a mess! please help

jarvester

hi there,
OH is pregnant with our first baby (whoo hoo) and we are quite confused with the allowances and benefits we can claim. she is working for a university in two different jobs in an hourly paid open ended contract. we have been informed that she is entitled to their occupational maternity benefit scheme, as she is been employed for more than 2 years and her average earnings are higher than the minimum amount in the T&C. To determine this, they look at the last 2 payslips before she gives her official pregnancy notice (which are Nov and Dec'10) and because on those two months she has been earning above the threshold value they said yes.
She has also been told that in order to calculate the amount she will be earning while on leave, they will contact her two employers within the university an ask them how many hours would she be working in the next semester/s would she not be pregnant, and based on that estimate they will pay her accordingly.
This is what worries us, as some of her (female) colleagues have told her that when they were pregnant one of the 2 departments did not aknowledge that they were going to give them any working hours during those terms (although clearly they were as they had been giving them work continuously in the past until they officially announced they were expecting). can they do this? it sounds difficult to prove but if they say now they are not planning to give her any hours in the next semester the one and only reason for this will be her pregnancy, which is a bit discriminatory if that's the case.

Also, she only works (and earns) during school terms as she is in an hourly paid contract, so how will they calculate her allowance? will she get paid only during school terms as she does now or will they calculate an average and pay her every month?

sorry if what I wrote looks confusing, but it's even more confusing for us, and they are not helping making things clear when we ask.

many thanks and keep up the good work with the forum!

MrsManda

How the university works out her maternity benefit payments should be set out in the employee handbook or her contract.

At the very least she should be entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/Expectingorbringingupchildren/DG_175884

As for how they will pay it, again have a look at the handbook and contract as I think some employers pay maternity leave the same way as they pay salary i.e. just during term times in her case, or divide it across the year so you get paid the same amount each month.

jarvester

Thanks for your reply. Because her contract type is quite unusual there are no specifications in her terms and conditions, only a general maternity benefits policy for all members of staff regardless of their contract type, that's why we are confused and feel anything could happen.

Although we know she is entitled to at least SMP, we believe she would get more money from the University Maternity Benefit scheme, as long as they agree to base the calculations in the same number of hours she is been normally doing for the last few years. Our main question is regarding wether they can now say they were not planning to give her any hours on the next semester so they can get away with paying her less while on leave.

I hope I make sense, it's not very easy to explain.

Thanks!

MrsManda

jarvester wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. Because her contract type is quite unusual there are no specifications in her terms and conditions, only a general maternity benefits policy for all members of staff regardless of their contract type, that's why we are confused and feel anything could happen.

Although we know she is entitled to at least SMP, we believe she would get more money from the University Maternity Benefit scheme, as long as they agree to base the calculations in the same number of hours she is been normally doing for the last few years. Our main question is regarding wether they can now say they were not planning to give her any hours on the next semester so they can get away with paying her less while on leave.

I hope I make sense, it's not very easy to explain.

Thanks!

Does the general staff handbook say how they calculate maternity benefit? Does her contracts say whether she's contracted for a set/minimum number of hours?

jarvester

hello again, and thanks a lot for your interest.

the general staff handbook does indicate the different options of maternity benefit they offer, i.e.: number of weeks on full pay, number of weeks on half pay, number of weeks on SMP etc...but does not state how they calculate what full pay and half pay mean on each case.

my partner was told back in November that they were about to publish an updated maternity policy handbook which reflects clearly all the different options and contract types, but nothing has happened yet.

I think the current handbook is valid for those members of staff with permanent contracts like they used to do in the old days, but leaves everybody with a new hourly paid, open-ended contract in a sort of limbo that is giving us big headaches.

does anybody know what happens if an accurate policy document is non existent? shouldn't they have everything in place before they start ofering new contract models? not only new contracts have a loss of rights and employment stability associated, but there are clear voids that no one seems to be addresing...

any advice will be greatly appreciated

MX5huggy

Is she in a union? If not I would join. Staff terms would be negotiated by the union in all likely hood, and they can support you in getting what is due. I would be taking the department that may say there is 0 hours offered this year to task on discrimination grounds.

Maternity policies normally work out what is due by the average of pay over a specific period before the due date to avoid this problem.

jarvester

Yes, she has joined the union recently, but I think she needs to wait for 90 days before she can get any advise...(don't ask me why). Probably best thing to do is wait and see what they come up with, then action accordingly.

Thanks a lot for your answers.