Christmas bonus while on Maternity Leave

lady_stardust

My employer pays a Christmas bonus to all staff (but are at pains to point out that it is "discretionary"). The way it is calculated is at 4% of what you have earned in that year - so if you earned £10,000 and had been working for them for six months, you would get 4% of £5,000

I will be going on Maternity leave at the end of September and have been told that my bonus will be paid for 9 months of service this year, although I am still employed by them well into next year (albeit on SMP). Apparently this is what they have done in the past, but only one other person here has been in this situation before.

While it is a discretionary bonus, could it be classed as discrimination that a benefit is being diminished because of my pregnancy?

3under3

I had the same issue when I went on maternity leave and I remember looking into it in depth. My employer days it is based on salary for the previous year but they actually base it on earnings, i.e. salary may be 20k pa but actual earnings due to maternity leave etc is 15k. My research indicated that they are allowed to do this. As my maternity leave straddled parts of two years I miss out on the full bonus for two years running. If you find out any different please let me know!

CFC

Hardly surprising really - bonuses are not a 'automatic gift' or a 'right' ie a benefit they are a reward for contributing to the company's success and profitability. You might be the greatest worker in the world, but you are actively contributing for only the time period that you are there....

wisbech_lad

This is standard, and as far as I am aware, legal. Long term sick leave can also be deducted when calculating bonuses.