Maternity Leave - Pay Rise Deduction

jam1991

Good evening,

Anonymising details but hopefully can explain the current situation with my pay after returning from maternity leave.

Full-time employee, on annual salary.
Maternity leave began June 2022.
26 weeks full pay followed by,
13 weeks statutory maternity pay followed by,
13 weeks unpaid leave.

I returned to work June 2023 part-time (reduced to 3 days a week).
August 2023, company announced % percentage pay rise to be applied to all employees, back dated to April 1st 2023, to be paid in September 2023 payroll.

Since returning to work, I believe my pay to be correct:
June 23 - holiday pay added to the end of maternity leave.
July 23 - first month of part-time wage.
Aug 23 - second month of part-time wage.

Sept 23 - basic salary has increased as per the expected % increase.
The back pay of £300 is added (1st April 2023 > Sept 2023).
However I then see a £200 deduction applied to my basic salary.

Queried this with payroll who have explained that this is because I was absent from work (on unpaid maternity leave between April 1st > June 20th 2023). I am therefore not entitled to the % back pay during this period.

Back-tracked over my payslips and also gone over this a few times, but I still do not feel this to be correct.

Grateful for thoughts and input, thank you in advance. 

General_Grant

jam1991 said:

Good evening,

Anonymising details but hopefully can explain the current situation with my pay after returning from maternity leave.

Full-time employee, on annual salary.
Maternity leave began June 2022.
26 weeks full pay followed by,
13 weeks statutory maternity pay followed by,
13 weeks unpaid leave.

I returned to work June 2023 part-time (reduced to 3 days a week).
August 2023, company announced % percentage pay rise to be applied to all employees, back dated to April 1st 2023, to be paid in September 2023 payroll.

Since returning to work, I believe my pay to be correct:
June 23 - holiday pay added to the end of maternity leave.
July 23 - first month of part-time wage.
Aug 23 - second month of part-time wage.

Sept 23 - basic salary has increased as per the expected % increase.
The back pay of £300 is added (1st April 2023 > Sept 2023).
However I then see a £200 deduction applied to my basic salary.

Queried this with payroll who have explained that this is because I was absent from work (on unpaid maternity leave between April 1st > June 20th 2023). I am therefore not entitled to the % back pay during this period.

Back-tracked over my payslips and also gone over this a few times, but I still do not feel this to be correct.

Grateful for thoughts and input, thank you in advance. 

If you were on unpaid leave then obviously you didn't receive any pay for that time. 
If the increased pay element had actually been paid from 1st April rather than being delayed, it would not have been due to you for the unpaid leave period.  Why would you expect that unpaid leave time to now have that element paid?
What am I missing in your logic?

jam1991

Thanks for your reply, firstly I do not expect anything - I simply posted on MSE to sense check my thoughts; as I know there are laws & legislation around maternity leave, and also was unsure whether the application of % backpay would be different as a permanent salaried employee.

Truthfully my initial thought was; if I have not received payment in said period, then there was nothing for backdated % pay rise to be added onto, for me to then owe back...

For total transparency, I received the following:
April 23 - no pay £0
May 23 - pay for 1 keeping in touch day.
June 23 - pay for 5 days annual leave. 
July, August & Sept were then my new part-time salary.

hyubh

jam1991 said:

Truthfully my initial thought was; if I have not received payment in said period, then there was nothing for backdated % pay rise to be added onto, for me to then owe back...

In your original post you said,

The back pay of £300 is added (1st April 2023 > Sept 2023).
However I then see a £200 deduction applied to my basic salary.

So there's nothing for you to owe back, because the deduction was applied in the same pay packet as the unearned additional pay was given in the first place...?

TheSpiddalKid

I can’t see how there is any deduction to make from salary. 

However, Depending on circumstances of the pay deal there may be pay due to you from increased maternity pay based on the Alabaster ruling. 

It’s a complex area of the law and it maybe best to speak to a TU rep if you are in a union. 

Marcon

TheSpiddalKid said:

I can’t see how there is any deduction to make from salary. 

However, Depending on circumstances of the pay deal there may be pay due to you from increased maternity pay based on the Alabaster ruling. 

It’s a complex area of the law and it maybe best to speak to a TU rep if you are in a union. 

I don't think the Alabaster ruling comes into play, given that the pay increase only came into force after OP's period of paid maternity leave had ended. 

jam1991 said:

I returned to work June 2023 part-time (reduced to 3 days a week).
August 2023, company announced % percentage pay rise to be applied to all employees, back dated to April 1st 2023, to be paid in September 2023 payroll.

Since returning to work, I believe my pay to be correct:
June 23 - holiday pay added to the end of maternity leave.
July 23 - first month of part-time wage.
Aug 23 - second month of part-time wage.

Sept 23 - basic salary has increased as per the expected % increase.
The back pay of £300 is added (1st April 2023 > Sept 2023).
However I then see a £200 deduction applied to my basic salary.

Queried this with payroll who have explained that this is because I was absent from work (on unpaid maternity leave between April 1st > June 20th 2023). I am therefore not entitled to the % back pay during this period.

Sounds as if payroll got it right, but you are clearly still not convinced so possibly best to talk to them again.

saajan_12

jam1991 said:

Sept 23 - basic salary has increased as per the expected % increase.
The back pay of £300 is added (1st April 2023 > Sept 2023).
However I then see a £200 deduction applied to my basic salary.

How does the £300 / £100 net compare to the % increase you expected on the actual pay you got? 

The route it takes (ie +300 and -200 vs a straight +100) is less relevant, the point is does the total reflect the correct increase. You wouldn't be entitled to an increase on unpaid time, obviously. So for the 6 days keep in touch / holiday during Apr-June and the 3 months part time Jul-Sept, how much were you paid, and how much is the % increase on that? 

chrisbur

Marcon said:

TheSpiddalKid said:

I can’t see how there is any deduction to make from salary. 

However, Depending on circumstances of the pay deal there may be pay due to you from increased maternity pay based on the Alabaster ruling. 

It’s a complex area of the law and it maybe best to speak to a TU rep if you are in a union. 

I don't think the Alabaster ruling comes into play, given that the pay increase only came into force after OP's period of paid maternity leave had ended. 

The Alabaster rule applies from the start of the eight weeks used to calculate the SMP 90% earnings figure up to the end of the 52 weeks maternity leave.  However in this case the OP was paid " 26 weeks full pay" so might be that the re-calculated 90% rate is still under the "full pay" rate.