Am I entitled to same Maternity benefit as my UK colleague?

bytheglass

I work in a Dublin satellite office, our head office is in the UK.
HR have led me to believe there are no maternity entitlements due to me (from my employer), and have advised me to claim from the state (statutory maternity only).
A colleague in the UK advised she received a % of her salary for 6 weeks as part of her maternity entitlement from the company.
Would there be a legitimise reason I am being treated differently?

Stheno

bytheglass wrote: »

I work in a Dublin satellite office, our head office is in the UK.
HR have led me to believe there are no maternity entitlements due to me (from my employer), and have advised me to claim from the state (statutory maternity only).
A colleague in the UK advised she received a % of her salary for 6 weeks as part of her maternity entitlement from the company.
Would there be a legitimise reason I am being treated differently?

There is no legal requirement for your company to pay you any additional pay on top of the statutory maternity leave.

What does your contract say?

davo10

If you work in the State you are bound by the employment laws of the state unless your contract says otherwise.

There is no statutory entitlement to paid maternity leave from your employer here.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/leave_and_holidays/maternity_leave.html

bytheglass

Stheno wrote: »

What does your contract say?

My contract doesn't mention maternity whatsoever

Stheno

bytheglass wrote: »

My contract doesn't mention maternity whatsoever

Then it's statutory tbh

bytheglass

davo10 wrote: »

If you work in the State you are bound by the employment laws of the state unless your contract says otherwise.

There is no statutory entitlement to paid maternity leave from your employer here.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/leave_and_holidays/maternity_leave.html

Thanks for that. I still feel a bit hard done by though! I wouldn't if my colleague got nothing from the company but we are not being treated equally

Stheno

bytheglass wrote: »

Thanks for that. I still feel a bit hard done by though! I wouldn't if my colleague got nothing from the company but we are not being treated equally

Maybe they negotiated a better contract than you??

I know for one job I went for years ago there was nothing about maternity leave, and as part of my contract negotiations I insisted that they include maternity leave provisions in the contract (at the time they paid full pay during maternity leave)

bytheglass

Stheno wrote: »

Maybe they negotiated a better contract than you??

I know for one job I went for years ago there was nothing about maternity leave, and as part of my contract negotiations I insisted that they include maternity leave provisions in the contract (at the time they paid full pay during maternity leave)

Good move by you! I know she didn't negotiate a better contract, she would have said.

I suppose 'you live and you learn'. I will ask HR to explain the disparity anyway and hear what their justification is.

Thank you for your insight

Stheno

bytheglass wrote: »

Good move by you! I know she didn't negotiate a better contract, she would have said.

I suppose 'you live and you learn'. I will ask HR to explain the disparity anyway and hear what their justification is.

Thank you for your insight

Best of luck, I suspect you'll just be told they enforce Irish employment legislation in your case.

I've worked in companies where staff who were there for e.g. more than three years were entitled to maternity but those there less than that were not.

There are very few rights enshrined in law in relation to maternity pay

davo10

bytheglass wrote: »

Thanks for that. I still feel a bit hard done by though! I wouldn't if my colleague got nothing from the company but we are not being treated equally

To be fair, if you worked here for a US company, you would have a lot more rights here than your colleagues in the US would where there is no right to work and you could be dismissed without consequence for the employer. We have pretty good employment rights here, maternity pay just isn't one of them.