Company car/maternity leave questions

lovelouise

Hello. Looking for some advice.

I’m 21 weeks pregnant. Employed full time and have a company car as part of my role. I am taxed on it, not a pool car and I pay for personal fuel use. My work have offered me an alternative role on my return from mat leave in one location, meaning I wouldn’t benefit from the car any longer. If I accept this now, will they be able to take the car away from me now, or will I be entitled to it whilst I’m off and until I start this new role?

lovelouise

Also, can they reduce my salary on return to a different role? Ideally I would like to keep the current benefits I receive with regards to the car and my salary. I am concerned that I may be forced into accepting less.

TELLIT01

This seems to give a pretty comprehensive explanation of rights on return to work.  Rights do vary depending on how long you take off.

https://www.acas.org.uk/your-maternity-leave-pay-and-other-rights/returning-to-work-after-having-a-baby

lovelouise

@TELLIT01 thanks. After reading that, it looks like if they do offer me an alternative role, I would need to be no worse off in terms of pay and benefits therefore I would still retain the car and current salary?

68ComebackSpecial

Why have they offered you an alternative role, especially as it could be more than a year before you commence it? Is your current role at risk of redundancy?

lovelouise

@68ComebackSpecial no, not at risk of redundancy at all. They are currently recruiting for my mat leave cover. They have offered me a different role as a vacancy as arisen at a static branch, with the manager there expressing their interest in having me fill it on my return. My current role involves travelling which they are implying will be difficult for me to do once I have a baby. It doesn’t involve overnight stays or anything long distance though, maybe a max 1 hour commute. I had implied I was planning to return on 16 hours a week.

TELLIT01

lovelouise said:

. I had implied I was planning to return on 16 hours a week.

You should not be planning to return on 16 hours a week.  You can put in a request for changes but can't simply tell your employer that is what you will be doing.  There is a link from the document I linked to previously detailing the process for this too.

lovelouise

@TELLIT01 I didn’t tell them. They asked if I had thought about what I would be doing, I said that’s what I was thinking at the moment. This was an informal chat with my line manager. They know I won’t be returning full
time, and that isn’t my issue at the moment. I am trying to clarify whether they can offer an alternative role which would essentially leave me worse off than prior to my maternity leave.

Savvy_Sue

They can if you're not planning to come back to what you left: your t&c are only preserved for the original role. That, at least is my understanding. 

They should try to offer similar but it's not always possible.

Of course you'd like to keep the car, but if the static role doesn't require travel, I don't see that they have to offer one.

If you're in a union I'd definitely get their advice. 

If you agree to the new role now, I don't know at what point you'd lose the car so I wouldn't rush into anything.

JamoLew

lovelouise said:

@TELLIT01 I didn’t tell them. They asked if I had thought about what I would be doing, I said that’s what I was thinking at the moment. This was an informal chat with my line manager. They know I won’t be returning full
time, and that isn’t my issue at the moment. I am trying to clarify whether they can offer an alternative role which would essentially leave me worse off than prior to my maternity leave.

Have they actually agreed to this in writing ?

They are under no obligation to allow you to reduce your hours if the role doesn't support it

Is the new role part of this agreement ?

I think worrying about your car may be the least of you worries if I'm reading between the lines correctly

68ComebackSpecial

lovelouise said:

@TELLIT01 I didn’t tell them. They asked if I had thought about what I would be doing, I said that’s what I was thinking at the moment. This was an informal chat with my line manager. They know I won’t be returning full
time, and that isn’t my issue at the moment. I am trying to clarify whether they can offer an alternative role which would essentially leave me worse off than prior to my maternity leave.

That's not your choice. As long as they can provide a sound business reason why the requested reduction in hours is unworkable for them then you are only entitled to return to your current role (or a comparable one, depending on the length of your maternity leave), current contracted hours, salary and benefits. If you then choose to accept a new post with reduced hours then the pay and benefits it attracts will be entirely up to negotiation.