Redundancy on maternity leave

0678579

Hi all,
Due to a fixed term contract, I am going to be made redundant when 31 weeks pregnant. This falls within the qualifying period for me to receive both SMP and my employer's enhanced maternity pay pack. I have been told I will receive the money as a lump sum at the end of my employment.

However, although my employer's policy clearly states that employees on maternity leave are fully entitled to non-cash benefits such as childcare vouchers throughout their maternity leave, my employer has said that I will not receive these when my contract ends. I think this is discrimination? As far as I am aware, it is illegal to treat a fixed term contract employee differently from a permanent employee, therefore surely by not paying my childcare vouchers (they are basing my maternity pay on salary after the childcare sacrifice amount has been deducted) they are discriminating against me as a fixed term employee?

Does anyone have any advice? I plan to bring it up with HR, but so far, no-one I've spoken to seems to have a clue and their default answer is "no"...

[Deleted User]

I 'm not quite sure what your asking but I will have a go.....

When an employees is pregnant there are 2 things an employer must consider

1) An entitlement to maternity pay.

2) An entitlement to maternity leave.

It is quite possible to have an employee, for example a low paid worker or new starter, that is entitled to leave but not pay.

It is also possible to have someone who is entitled to pay but not leave, for example they were employed during their qualifying week (15 weeks before DD) but left employment before they qualified for leave (11 weeks before DD).

So using these examples you come somewhere in the middle. You qualify for pay as you were still employed during your qualifying week, technically you are entitled to 2 weeks leave as you could go on leave at 29 weeks.... But then your employment ends on it's fixed term agreed date. Where your entitlement to all other benefits, holiday pay etc will stop.

There is no evidence of being treated unfairly or discriminated against due to being a fixed term rather than permanent employee. If a permanent staff member ended employment before leave (which of course they are highly unlikely too!) they would be treated in the same way.

I have come across people on 2 year fixed contracts who spend the 2nd year on maternity! How unfair is that to an employer?

Hope this was of some help

mariefab

As you don't say when you will start your maternity leave I'll assume that you will work up to the date that you are made redundant at 31 weeks.

The non-cash benefits are an entitlement for employees on maternity leave.
As your employment will be terminated, by reason of redundancy, you will no longer be an employee and therefore not entitled to childcare vouchers.

Maternity pay is calculated on the amount of salary after deducting the sacrificed amount. So, your employer is correct.

Both these things apply regardless of whether the contract is permanent, fixed term, part-time etc. So, there's no discrimination.


It's good that you've been told that you'll be receiving the employer's enhanced maternity package.
Usually ex-employees only receive SMP.

0678579

Regarding the comment on "fairness" to employers over being on maternity leave whilst on a fixed term contract - a year of someone not working is a year of someone not working - regardless of their contract length. Very dodgy ground to imply that anyone is being "unfair" by having children.

Where I think this is unfair - I am on a fixed term contract because in academia, you are not ever offered a permanent contract. If you want one, you have to change career, simple as. So, in order to maximise my work potential within my three year contract, I have held off getting pregnant until near the end of the contract - so that while I will still get paid by my (very wealthy) organisation, the actual group I work within will not be affected. However, if I had been on a permanent contract or had decided to disrupt my three year contract by having a baby in the middle of it, I'd have been entitled to full pay plus childcare vouchers.
My employer's statement on maternity is very clear that you accrue these benefits on leave. At the qualifying date, I qualify for all of these benefits. Which they do not dispute. Why, then, can they "opt out" of the vouchers (whilst still taking the money from my maternity pay). It seems to me that its a lot of picking and choosing - I am suddenly not entitled to something I have qualified for, purely because of redundancy. How is this not discriminating between a fixed term and permanent contract?

Note, I am not talking about "fairness" to employers, neither am I wanting to get into the politics of whether I should appear "grateful" for receiving enhanced maternity pay. My employer made their rules about qualification periods and redundancy. However, the government website clearly says that childcare vouchers are not something that an employer can "opt out" of during maternity as they are written into your contract. So why is alright for them to opt out now?!

0678579

Deleted_User wrote: »

There is no evidence of being treated unfairly or discriminated against due to being a fixed term rather than permanent employee. If a permanent staff member ended employment before leave (which of course they are highly unlikely too!) they would be treated in the same way.

Also, the difference here is that I am not ending my employment - my organisation is. I am trying to "redeploy" but obviously with only 2 months working time left before maternity leave, it is unlikely that this will happen.
If a permanent employee got pregnant and then was made redundant, I wonder would the same happen regarding pay and benefits? The reason I qualify for enhanced maternity pay in the first place is because my organisation has acknowledged that they are making me redundant while on maternity leave. In their eyes, my end date does not factor in this decision. Therefore, they have said I qualify for their benefits, but are picking and choosing when they could not have done this if I had been a permanent employee.

mariefab

I wrongly assumed that you were going to be at work until 31 weeks.

When did your maternity leave start?

[Deleted User]

0678579 wrote: »

My employer's statement on maternity is very clear that you accrue these benefits on leave. At the qualifying date, I qualify for all of these benefits. Which they do not dispute. Why, then, can they "opt out" of the vouchers (whilst still taking the money from my maternity pay). It seems to me that its a lot of picking and choosing - I am suddenly not entitled to something I have qualified for, purely because of redundancy. How is this not discriminating between a fixed term and permanent contract

So how long do you think they should pay the vouchers for? You are not on leave your contract has ended?


When you say they are "taking money from my maternity pay' I assume you mean by this that your occupational maternity pay is based on your post sacrifice amount? In which case would it not be an option to opt out of the voucher scheme just before you leave and revert back to your original salary?

bluffer

what do you mean "Due to a fixed term contract, I am going to be made redundant" when is the contract due to end?

are you being made redundant within the contract period or is it just ending?