To request she's fired.

[Twocatsonebaby]

So I'm 37 weeks pregnant. Came off maternity last November and took holiday which I was entitled to until early December. I was 24 weeks pregnant when I found out I was carrying ds. As soon as I had my midwife appointment I handed in my matb1. In which my HR manager lost it. Not once. Not twice. But today I'm picking up my third to send it off as an emergency to my main head office.
Filled in my paperwork, it's not been sent off.
I've been underpaid during the SMP qualifying period and there's no evidence of the backdated pay I got on my payslips. Which I'm now worried could put me in trouble in terms of tax.
She wouldn't give me my backdated pay for months and each month I was underpaid I had to pay my bills off a credit card. It's mounted up and I'm in trouble.
My pay came in January thankfully.
So I told her at 33 weeks I wanted to take holiday until 35 weeks and then start maternity leave. This covers me to be entitled to SMP again. But wait, she underpaid me! So I won't be getting SMP!

I phoned head office today to try and sort it to find out they didn't even know I'm pregnant! I won't be getting paid at all next week. I'm struggling enough as it is. So I can't pay my rent etc. An ds is due at the end of the month. I'm fucked.

Ive been told to write it down, send off another matb1 directly to them and write down all my greivences. Which includes forcing me to take an antenatal appointment unpaid (I couldn't rebook my gtt and they refused me on it several times). Which I'm now told by my midwife it is illegal.

Should I also request some sort of compensation for this? I'm with a union. But this isn't the first time I've been screwed around and HR should've sent off the paperwork months ago. It's discrimination. Could I also request for her to be let go?
If I can't be paid I'm going to have to ask to be let go as I'd get jsa. Which is better than £0.
I'm so worried because I'm in trouble with my credit card due to being underpaid and unexpectant bills came out. I can't pay my rent. I don't know how they expect me to live.
Is it also worth me phoning acas?

Yes, if you can't contact your rep, contact the union directly. Phone if you can, or if not via the website.

I really think you should be paid keep in touch days for you having to sort this out.

As awful as they have been just focus on getting your maternity pay sorted and please go ahead the incompetent persons head - to the HR Director or Finance Director.

Good luck OP

I do not think you need to go to a Union yet, you would be better going to the Head of Finance or Head of HR as they will understand Maternity Pay and be able to fix this quickly.

Both should be able to authorise an urgent payment, correction or even advance.

Then you go to the Union afterwards if you want, need to but for now you need money and you need it urgently so I suggest you go to the people who can process this.

Write an email or to be honest if you are too knackered to do that then please call the HR Director or Finance Director.

Having been in senior positions I would just sort you out with something quickly and then go about rectifying the issues internally.

Forget about her - it is not for you to suggest how she it dealt with.

Focus entirely on your own situation.
Write a timeline of every thing that has happened
Attach relevant proof if you have it for each event
e.g. 23rd Jan 2018 requested payslips showing backdated pay by email - copy of email attached.

Think about what you need them to sort out

1. Confirmation that previous maternity pay has been paid correctly and that any tax due has been settled with HMRC etc.
2. Confirmation that SMP will be paid for this period of ML
3. Confirmation that if there will be any issue with your eligibility to or receipt of SMP due to delays by HR then the Company will put you in the position you should have been in had HR actioned the paperwork as soon as you provided it.
4. Confirmation that you will receive pay for the antenatal appointment.

You can also highlight that a number matters relating to your pregnancy have been handled incorrectly and that you have suffered unnecessary stress and worry due to this.

“f I can't be paid I'm going to have to ask to be let go as I'd get jsa.”

How long have you been there? They can’t “just” fire you and you can’t “just” quit without giving notice, as per your contract.

Can you just clarify...

You have been on maternity leave in 2017 and were due to return in November 2017. Your work allowed you to use your accrued holiday so, you returned to work mid Dec 2017.

In next 30 days, you discover you were 24 weeks pregnant and you’ve submitted a matb1 form three times because it keeps getting misplaced?

Is that right? Sorry, just a bit confused on your timeline.

Also, you can’t “tell” HR when you are taking a holiday - that needs to be approved by your manager. So you deciding you’ll go off early on your maternity using your annual leave isn’t up to you - it needs to be approved by your manager. Follow up with your manager as HR won’t be able to do anything without their sign off.

And again sorry you are going through this at 37 weeks I think they should be able to email you and assure you.

I don't know who you spoke to at Head office but I think you need to speak to someone at Director level.

jesus what did I just read.. I'm so sorry..... this is appalling OP

No, date I went back to work was week commencing the 6th November. This is when maternity leave ended for me. But she put it down in October. But that was sorted long ago. I was at this point around the 19/20 week mark. I found out at 24 weeks. I had three weeks of holiday which took me up to the 1st December. The week after I learnt of the pregnancy and handed in all the necessary documents needed. So matb1 etc.

HR twat has committed numerous unlawful acts. No excuse for any of them. How awful for you

Acas first, then tell HMRC. They'll put pressure on the organisation which will probably result in resolution faster than anything you can do. If you're on NMW, or ending up being paid less than that, which it sounds like, it's a criminal offence and the directors are personally liable for at least a 50k fine. Focuses their minds somewhat, generally.

Your Union is your best bet. IMHO. I know somebody who contacted ACAS and they were hopeless. See if they have a helpline number. Hopefully they will have. Go online and google the name of your Union. Don't whatever you do resign.

OK, given the stuff about shifts, shift changes and overtime, I think you should speak to ACAS about bringing a tribunal claim for discrimination actually (you can do this and stay employed by them). And ask ACAS to mediate pre-claim.

There is no cost to bring the claim and as soon as the ACAS letter/email hits them they'll be all over it.

Jasmine van Loggerenberg is an equality solicitor. I would have a chat.

Are you weekly or monthly paid? Is there a chance you aren’t actually entitled to a second round of SMP?

Haven't read the full thread but...

Forget about getting this woman fired. That may happen if head office realise how badly she has fouled up but it isn't your problem. Concentrate on getting your entitlement. That should include:

• a correct payslip showing the back pay you have received and confirming that tax and NI have been deducted
• compensation for any costs you incurred due to being underpaid (credit card interest, for example)
• confirmation that your SMP will be correctly calculated based on the pay you should have received
• payment for the antenatal appointment you were illegally forced to take as unpaid

I would also consider asking for compensation for the fact that you have had to supply three MAT1B forms since they have lost two of them and the stress you have been put through whilst pregnant due to their failures.

Get your union involved and, as the previous poster says, send the head of HR a polite email with all this.

Don’t tell them you will have cash for birthday presents. Do as suggested re HO/union/CAB and stress that your rent is due next week.

Have you checked that with the correct information you would be eligible for SMP? If so HMRC have a SMP disputes team

I have nothing practical to add, OP, just my sympathies for what sounds like a horribly stressful situation.

Employers can't get round their statutory rights by 'forgetting', or 'making mistakes'. you'll get what you're entitled to eventually.

But do get help from union, ACAS or CAB sorting it out - many organisations are much more responsive if an outside body which knows the law is involved.

When you write this email then you might want to use some strong phrases like "unlawful failure to pay my full wages". Possibly similar for your Antenatal appointment?

I returned to work when DD2 was 6 mo, and after a month full-time received a payslip with only SMP. It was the worst of several mistakes HR made and they admitted that they'd failed to tell payroll I'd returned, but treated it like a typo. To be fair they sorted the financial side fast but I still wrote to them because they hadn't apologized and they clearly had some systemic incompetence going on.

I never got any feedback (like how they were going to make sure it didn't happen again) and there are signs that they're still incompetent.

When you write this email then you might want to use some strong phrases like "unlawful failure to pay my full wages".

The phrase is "unlawful deduction from wages".

Non payment is an unlawful deduction, though the phrase doesn't sound like it means that!

I think you should contact your union - head office if your rep is away. This is what you pay your subs for.

Your main focus is to get them to pay you some money.
They owe you money, you don’t have money and you really need it.
Agree with PP’s about clearly setting out the lack of correct pay problem without emotion in an email, what you want first of all is someone at head office with some brain cells to look at this and cruciall, be able to unpick the error and correct it so you can be paid.
You also need to take the name of the person who will be dealing with it/find out who that is so you can follow up with them as things develop. And where they get to the point that they fix th problem, badger them into doing a manual payment/advance whatever asap.
HMRC will not be useful, will not have advice and will not be worried that mistakes were made.
ACAS will advise on grievance etc and wording of emails etc but you don’t really need them at this stage whilst you are focusing on getting the money

Bounced through the thread to get the jist.

Ringing the ACAS helpline as suggested above is a really good idea. I found talking a workplace problem I had very helpful. They offered to write to my employer about the problem & suggest best practice to remedy the situation.

Also, no Head of HR is pleased to receive a polite letter from ACAS. They will want to reply to ACAS super fast to assure everything is all sorted out.

Ring now & you could have resolution within a few working days.

I found that stating the good advice - with links to ACAS website & the ACAS offer to put it in writing - that I had got from ACAS helped HR to refresh their priorities & boosted their enthusiasm for an acceptable resolution.

Just sayin’.

Can you request an emergency payment from payroll to tide you over? I work in finance and we can do ad hoc requests to pay employees.

I work for a union. Ring you regional head office. Tell them your rep is on holiday (they are entitled to holidays, just v unfortunate it is when you need yours), and ask who your workplace organiser is.

Ask for a call back urgently.