Real Life MMD: Should I tell other workers they didn't get full maternity pay?

Former_MSE_Lee

Money Moral Dilemma: Should I tell other workers they didn't get full maternity pay?

I am about to have a baby and discovered that the small firm I work for doesn't currently give the legal minimum pension pay and holiday entitlement to employees on maternity leave. I raised the issue and it's now updated the company handbook, and I'll be paid the correct amount. However, plenty of others have taken maternity leave before on the worse deal and, even though a glut of back-payments could seriously harm the company, I don't like to think that others are missing out just because they weren't aware.

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shian

If the firm were willing to fix the problem when you pointed it out i think you should ask them if they are planning to repay any of the other employees. I'm sure if it was going to be harmful to the company.. rather than potentially lose their jobs... the employees would be willing to take the arrears in installments, giving the company a more manageable way of setting right the faults.

scoobydoobydoo

The worry there is I suppose, that in this current climate, the company may not be able to afford to repay it and there could be people out of their jobs. But....the other people are also entitled to what they missed out on. IMO it is the companies place to inform the employees that were short changed and if they havent then they are obviously hoping it will go away!

I would tell them, but as Shian said, they need to be aware that the repayments may not be in one go.

cloudwalker_3

I'm not sure that you should say something, but I think the company should deal with it.

Whilst in this current climate, the company might struggle to be able to afford to repay the extra money to those concerned in a one off payment, what they ought to do is come clean and arrange some kind of instalment plan to make up the differences.

If they don't do this, not only do they open themselves up to potential legal action in the future, (which will be very expensive) but they also show themselves to be acting pretty unethically. If the situation does comes to light in the future, a failure to deal with the situation in an acceptable way when they became aware of it will seriously damage the company's reputation and quite possibly have a fairly negative effect on sales, (people like dealing with companies that are perceived as being one of the the good guys) which is not a situation that any company wants to be in in the current economic climate.

On this basis, finding a way of paying the difference to the affected employees is the cheapest and most business smart option.

Arandorastar

It's not your problem but obviously is preying on your conscience. So why not get the monkey off your shoulder and give it back to where it belongs -your employer. Have a word with their Personnel Department and just tell a little white lie like "a fellow employee has asked me how much pension and holiday pay I'm getting while I'm on maternity leave and I don't know what to say as I'm getting more than she did. So if I tell her she'll tell the others. I think you should deal with this, don't you?2 This way your conscience is clear if someone does approach you. Just tell them to see Personnel.

ceridwen

Isn't the answer obvious in the wording of the question?:cool:

You said it yourself "A glut of back payments COULD SERIOUSLY HARM THE COMPANY".

Maternity pay is a matter of choice and if anyone wanted to have it then it was rather THEIR responsibility to work out what was due to them AT THE TIME and whether they intended to claim it.

Keeping one's salary flowing in okay is not a matter of choice and a lot of the company's employees have presumably not been in a position where they could claim "maternity pay" and they would also be at risk of problems with getting their normal salary due if a small group of employees were selfish enough to insist on having this money regardless.

Anyway - it's all probably a moot point anyway - as I would imagine the law probably doesn't allow for backdating of claims for "maternity pay". So I doubt these people would even legally be able to claim it and put everyone else's jobs at risk too:D

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ANSWER TO QUERENT

Obviously therefore - you have to choose between the "guilt" of a few people missing out on money that was down to their personal choice and it was their responsibiity to be aware of it on the one hand

OR
the much bigger and more obvious guilt that YOU were the person responsible for some of your colleagues probably getting made redundant (including childess ones! - ie nothing to do with this..). You could be one of the ones made redundant. You would certainly have the "comeback" of any colleagues that got made redundant because of you heading straight for your neck because it was your fault that they had been. You'd need to be pretty darn "clever" to protect yourself if a colleague knew they had their P45 in their hands because of you.

So - just at a very personal "protect yourself personally" level - don't set yourself up for all the flack that will be due to head in your direction if you do this and don't think it would be possible to hide the fact that it WAS down to you - because people would soon realise it had all coincided with you getting maternity pay, closely followed by other people getting backdated "maternity pay" (IF thats legally possible).

KateBob

I doubt if the original error was done deliberately by the company, a small company can easily fail to keep up with legislation.

The fact may be that other employees aren't due anything as the handbook was correct at the time of their maternity leave.

However I do think you need to remind the company that they may owe people back pay/pensions due to the error and also point out that failure to do so may result in a claim of sexual discrimination (maternity is only available to women and therefore any failure to pay what is legally due will fall under this)

I wouldn't tell the others mayself, purely because I'm a wuss and the company will know exactly where the information originated.

pippitypip_2

ceridwen wrote: »

Maternity pay is a matter of choice and if anyone wanted to have it then it was rather THEIR responsibility to work out what was due to them AT THE TIME and whether they intended to claim it.

No, this is not a choice matter; it is a legal one. The onus is actually on the company and not the employee to ensure they meet legal requirements when dealing with pregnant employees.

cloudwalker_3 is correct, the OP should refer the question back to the employer as to whether they will address past maternity issues and they could be sued later over this, so wise for the company to work out how best to deal with it now not later.

But it shouldn't be the OP telling other employees; it should be the company.

hth,
pippitypip

stroppy_cow

Make sure the company behave properly and legally. It is their responsibility to do so. Don't fret about the company having 'a hard time'. Every single time that has been my concern I am the one that has been shafted.

pennypinchUK

The law is the law - and employers, even small companies, know that they are liable to certain payouts in cases of maternity. However, you don't know the particular circumstances of each and every other person who's allegedly not received the full amount (it's just possible the company has come to a separate arrangement with them so they don't miss out, and it's not your place to stir it up just for the sake of it).

So mention it to those people who you're associated with, but you don't need to start a full blown campaign.

Greavesy

Can an employer not reclaim up to 100% of the statutory maternity pay that it pays to employees from HMRC? The Employer Handbook for Statutory Maternity Pay on the HMRC website suggests they can.

If this is the case, surely your employer can give your colleagues the back pay and reclaim from HMRC, and be no worse off???