company implementing new maternity pay policy-have i any rights in future?

thetope

I shall try to be as concise with this as possible...

I have been employed in the same firm for 10 years. 6 years ago the company was taken over by a much larger company. I can't really remember, but I think that at the time of the take over we signed new contracts but the terms of the take over were that none of the former company's existing perks were to change.

I am currently on maternity leave, having recently given birth to my first child. In addition to the government payments of full pay for 6 weeks (including statutory government maternity pay) then subsequently statutory maternity pay (SMP) of £128.73 until 39 weeks after the baby is born, I also receive the reasonably generous "perk" of 50% of my salary plus SMP between weeks 6 and 26 after the baby is born.

I am returning to work in a couple of months after 6 months of maternity leave as once the 50% pay component is removed at week 26, we cannot afford for me to stay off work any longer.

Our in-office HR person left the company at Christmas and has not been replaced - HR will now be dealt with by someone in an office in England.

A colleague of mine, who is currently pregnant, has mentioned to me that her boss has said to her that to coincide with our HR being moved from in-office to remotely coordinated from an office in England, the additional maternity benefits are being quietly withdrawn and reduced to the statutory minimum only as of 1st January 2012.

Boss told my colleague to keep the change quiet but assured her that she would be "looked after" and paid under the old regime as she was already pregnant while the change was sanctioned.

We received a very generic email informing us of the new HR contact name but no indications that any of our conditions have changed, just a link to the company intranet which holds all of the company information.

It seems like this new regime is being kept quiet - the company is very male dominated; there are only a handful of women of child bearing age in an office of around 150.

It is my intention to try and have another child, if I can, within the next 18 months or so, because I'm not getting any younger!

My question is this. If I am not formally advised of the changes to maternity pay within the firm and I do not sign any contracts confirming said change, do I have any legal standing to ask that I receive maternity pay for a future child as per my original contract, i.e. the 50% pay for 20 weeks?

I realise that a lot of people don't enjoy this perk and are forced to return to work after 6 weeks anyway, but I feel like I have poured 10 years of blood sweat and tears into that company and returning to work after only 6 weeks would be incredibly difficult. The alternative is of course to be mse and save up, but I am the main breadwinner, and it will be very difficult for us to build up any sort of meaningful sum as we are very financially stretched. I'll take it on the chin if it comes to it, but i just wanted to know can they do this?

SarEl

Can they do this? It depends. If there is a recognised union, then consulting the union is sufficient to make the changes when that has been done. In such circumstances they do not have to indivually notify you of contractual changes or consult you about them provided that the contract / policy is available on the company intranet or by some other means. Otherwise, it depends on whther this is a policy or a contractual term. If it is a contractual term the employer should consult with employees, but if enhanced maternity pay is not contractual, then they can change their policy. However, and I suspect this is what they will depend on, if you have a contractual right here, you would have to make a formal complaint about the change, and if necessary apply to a tribunal - which must be done within three months less a day of the action of which you are complaining. If the change runs longer than that without a claim to a tribunal, then you probably wouldn't - almost certainly wouldn't - be able to make a case stick.

In any circumstances, you can't simply stay quiet about it if you want to challenge the change - you will have to do something about it. Or someone will. And I get the feeling that you don't want to rock the boat? In which case, an employer can do pretty much anything they like if nobody is going to complain, I'm afraid.

thetope

Thank you - this is helpful advice. There is no union and you are correct, I don't really wish to rock the boat as I recognise how lucky I am to have a job at all in the current financial climate. I enjoy my job and am happy there, despite the fact I've not had a pay rise in 4 years!

But i just feel aggrieved that it's a bit sneaky to bring in a new policy and not inform the staff that might be affected. I'm not supposed to know about the change, so if i became pregnant with baby no. 2 and only learned then that the pay isn't going to be what i thought it was and query the change they will say "tough luck, you should have raised the issue at the time the change occurred!"

SarEl

thetope wrote: »

Thank you - this is helpful advice. There is no union and you are correct, I don't really wish to rock the boat as I recognise how lucky I am to have a job at all in the current financial climate. I enjoy my job and am happy there, despite the fact I've not had a pay rise in 4 years!

But i just feel aggrieved that it's a bit sneaky to bring in a new policy and not inform the staff that might be affected. I'm not supposed to know about the change, so if i became pregnant with baby no. 2 and only learned then that the pay isn't going to be what i thought it was and query the change they will say "tough luck, you should have raised the issue at the time the change occurred!"

If this happened you might, and it is only might, have a claim if the change is a contractual change. But if all of this happened you might still be happier having a job than not! It's all a bit moot if nobody is going to do anything about it. As I said before, you can only find out whether they can do this if someone is willing to question it in the first place.