How to ask about maternity benefits in work

LegacyUser

Myself and my partner are planning on starting a family, or trying to, later this year.

We are late thirties so I have no expectations that it will be easy.

I work for a small private sector unit within a big public service company for the past 4 years. I am permanent and generally well thought of. I have an excellent relationship with my male boss who is the only point of contact between me and HR, we're friends and have a very banter-type relationship which is great but at times not very professional, on his part. He regularly talks/jokes about my colleagues to me and I have no doubts that he does this about me to them too, it's innocent, but we all have enough experiences with things he has said to get him fired 100 times. We just really like him and he's not a bad guy.

However, as understanding and lovely as he is, I'm not comfortable asking him about my entitlements as if we wind up not getting pregnant for a while or at all...I would find that uncomfortable and stressful. I also think it would lead to much speculation within our unit on "Is she, isn't she...." and I think he would unintentionally make pretty insensitive jokes etc.

I know that my colleagues who have been with the company over 10 years all had full maternity salary top ups but no one who has started since I have been here has gone on maternity leave so I'm not sure if this is still the case as there is no reference to maternity at all on my contract. I'm not comfortable asking any of my colleagues about this as the gossip levels are high.

There are documents on our online HR portal but I assume they relate to the general public service staff and not the private sector workers as we only make up about 5%. It doesn't state this, but that's generally how it works. The HR department cover both public and private.

Basically I have 2 questions:

1 - I'm wondering, if I ask our HR department to furnish me with details are they obligated to tell my boss that I have made the request?

2 - If there is zero reference to maternity in my contract is it safe to assume there is no benefit for us anymore?


Thanks and sorry if I rambled, I just could not deal with my boss or any of my colleagues being aware of this as it's very personal.

Big Bag of Chips

I think a quiet word with someone in HR to ask the question would be fine. It'll be a simple question with a simple answer. And you can say as you're leaving 'Thanks, and I assume none of this will be discussed outside of this meeting'. It probable wouldn't. But it's just reminding them that you've asked a question for personal reasons, and you'd appreciate it not being discussed.

woodchuck

I agree that you should just go directly to HR. I don't see why they would bring the conversation up with your boss, but I'd definitely say something like what BBoC has suggested above just to be on the safe side. It really is just a matter of asking a question and getting an answer, I'm sure they're used to it.

I wouldn't jump to conclusions about what is or isn't in your contract. I could be wrong, but I don't think it's the norm to have details of maternity cover written into a contract.

ongarboy

HR is badly thought of and demonized on many posts/threads in Boards but your query is exactly one of the good reasons HR exists for companies and the conversation about maternity entitlements is a perfectly legitimate reason to have such a discussion with them. Email your HR rep and advise that you'd like to discuss some personal matters relating to potential upcoming maternity entitlements and that you request at this time that the conversations are strictly between yourself and HR.

All correspondence from then on will then be confidential until such time as you are ready to inform your manager.