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Maternity Pay

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  • 11-03-2020 3:04pm
    #1
    Francesca01
    Registered Users Posts: 11 ✭


    Good Afternoon,
    I am hoping to get some guidance. I have recently found out I'm pregnant & have been with my employer for almost 3 years. I am quite concerned about how HR handles things like maternity etc. I had a girl in my team who was advised that she would be paid fully, then right before she was going off they said 12 weeks but ended up paying her in full (she introduced a solicitor). My concern here is that they will do the same to me, I am in a relatively high up role and have had insight to a lot of the litigation issues that have taken place. the employee handbook is not available and has been in review since August last year, therefore i'm blind to what the entitlements are. this is my 4th pregnancy and I do not have the energy to be messed around. I have a new boss whom i'll be sharing the news with on friday but I know the company will not pay me lightly..Can an employer decide to pay me less than the other person and is this even legally allowed since there is no handbook available? what are my rights in this scenario? thank you


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    #2
    witchgirl26
    Registered Users Posts: 2,090 ✭✭✭witchgirl26


    I can understand this situation. So you can use the fact that someone has had a full paid maternity leave as precedent which can help your case. However if they publish the handbook prior to you actually going on maternity leave, then they can use that as the policy going forward. You say the handbook is in review - is there a previous version that makes any reference to maternity leave?

    Ideally if you could get you manager to sign off on your maternity entitlements now, it would help things but they may want to go just by the book unfortunately. There's no requirement to them to pay you at all for maternity leave. And while precedent could be used, they can also say that it's at the discretion of each manger, hence why getting yours on board with you from the start will be important.


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    #3
    Francesca01
    Registered Users Posts: 11 ✭Francesca01


    thanks for your reply. There is a handbook and in it is says 26 weeks full pay, which i have. i also have an email from head of legal saying the same (for my employee) I don't doubt that they will pay me, but I don't want to be messed around- my employee was an extremely difficult employee and she was trying to get a pay out and used her pregnancy to file a case of discrimination (completely different and unrelated to her mat leave & zero discrimination had taken place) so in that sense maybe thats why they were looking to review given what she was putting the company through. i'm in a director position and have been extremely loyal & have gone over and above for the company so we're not comparing apples for apples. Having said that you cant say 1 thing and then not honor it .. so thats my fear. I will be sharing the news with my manager today & hr also so we'll see what happens.


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