DH Paternity Pay

[londonliv]

DH's employer (a large national company) recently introduced an "enhanced" Shared Parental Leave Pay policy. Secondary carers (so often, but not always, dads) will now be entitled to up to 18 weeks of enhanced (ie, full) pay when they take SPL. We were really happy to be sharing leave but now his company is saying that they will subtract any weeks of enhanced pay already received by me even though I work for a completely different company.

I am lucky enough to get full maternity pay from my employer & I am taking 31 weeks. So my DH's Company is saying that this should be subtracted from my husband’s entitlement, leaving him with basic statutory pay.

I appreciate that all of this is voluntary and that employers are not legally required to offer enhanced SPL pay at all, but this policy seems utterly bizarre and pointless. DHs HR emailed him today wanting to know what my maternity package is - AIBU (or really AWBU) to say what I get (other than how many weeks I'm taking) is none of their business?

its shared leave, not both leave (i am NO! expert, but i dont think you would be paid twice for the same leave)

www.gov.uk/shared-parental-leave-and-pay
How it works
You and your partner may be able to get Shared Parental Leave (SPL) and Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP) if you’re having a baby or adopting a child.

You can share up to 50 weeks of leave and up to 37 weeks of pay between you.

You need to share the pay and leave in the first year after your child is born or placed with your family.

You can use SPL to take leave in blocks separated by periods of work, or take it all in one go. You can also choose to be off work together or to stagger the leave and pay.

That's how shared paternity leave works, you and your parnter share it, not that you get both.

I think this is how it works - you don’t both get paid for taking the same leave iyswim.

Yep they're right. There are 52 weeks to share. If, for example, you both take 6 months off together, you would need to decide who is being paid for weeks 1-26 of the entitlement and who is being paid for weeks 27-52. You can't both be paid for weeks 1-26

It doesn't have to work like that - but as it is enhanced there are no rules so it can. It sounds like someone has introduced a family friendly sounding policy safe in the knowledge it won't cost too much and they wontnhave to pay double for one baby. Does dh only get the enhancement if he takes it in the first 18 weeks (less yours) or can he take any 18 weeks - I.e. once you are back at work (even if that is not your choice)?

You can both be paid for weeks 1 - 26 but not many employers offer that.

In order for her dh to get shared leave the OP will already be cutting her leave short to give to him. They dont need to know your enhanced maternity details as it's nothing to do with them. If his employers offer an enhanced paternity deal then that's what he should get

They do need to know - when you fill in the forms they have to include details from both sides

Looks like they can do it but it may be classed as indirect sexual discrimination

My employer provides enhanced shared parental pay but deducts any weeks of maternity leave/pay taken by my partner. Can they do that?

Employers can decide on the terms of their contractual pay policies, however, they need to ensure that they do not discriminate. Some employers provide a freestanding right to enhanced shared parental pay e.g. 3 months fully paid leave, others provide what appears to be a more generous contractual provision but deduct any weeks of paid maternity leave taken by the mother or operate a sliding scale whereby any enhanced shared parental pay starts from the date the mother starts her paid maternity leave. These types of policies usually reduce the amount of paid shared parental leave available to the father/partner and may be indirect sex discrimination because more men than women are likely to be taking shared parental leave because they do not have the option of taking maternity leave.

If a policy disadvantages one sex more than the other an employer needs to decide if it can be justified. If you are disadvantaged by your employer’s policies because of your sex, you should talk to your employer about the impact of their policy and ask them to consider their justification for continuing with such a policy. If necessary, you should get specialist legal advice.

How it has worked with us is I've taken 17 on SMP, as that's all I get, and my DP has taken the rest up to 39 weeks so he's taken 22.

He gets 16 on enhanced pay (full pay) and the rest on statutory parental leave pay. My OH has also had 2 weeks on paternity pay, which was on full pay, and 2 weeks holiday.

So your OH can take up 8 weeks on enhanced pay to get up to 39 weeks if you take 31 and then he gets nothing at all.

(I've had more time off but it was unpaid.)

I should add his employer asked about whether I had enhanced maternity pay for the weeks off and he simply told them none of their business. If they had started digging we knew how to give them shit as they had changed their policy 4 times while I was pregnant.

I am cutting my leave short. I'm taking 31 weeks & he is taking the remaining 8 this would take us up to 39.

What I don't understand is why it is any business of theirs what my package is - surely they don't ask Mother's what their partners packages are if they take parental leave?

Surely the only information they need to know is how many weeks I'm using? The form he filled in only asked how many weeks I'm taking, HR then emailed him separately wanting to know if my employers were giving me any enhanced or not.

I think a few responders here are missing the point. OP clearly understands that SPL and statutory SPL pay is shared, that doesn't seem to be the issue.

If OP has curtailed her maternity leave and OP's OH still has some statutory pay entitlement remaining, it does seem odd for the company to decline to enhance it because of a benefit OP has received from an entirely separate company.

Both your company and his will need to know how you're splitting your leave, so they can deal with the payroll and tax implications. You're being unreasonable.

But they do know already. OP is cutting her leave short and having 31 weeks off. She is gifting 8 weeks leave to her dh so he can have that time off. What more do they need to know?

Yes, Spoonblender and others are missing the point. By the sounds of it OP is providing everything they need to know (ie, how the leave is split and how much of the available statutory pay she has used). Her own arrangements in terms of any non-statutory enhancements offered by her own employer are not required.

Not required for the statutory pay no - but for her dh enhanced pay they are required- this type of policy might be illegal - see above but this has not been tested in law. Unless op and her dh want to be the test case then they can supply the required information or accept no enhancement above statutory. I agree it's a horrible policy but I think op might realistically be stuck with it.

Me and DH are planning our SPL at the moment and in a similar situation to the OP.

DH employee offers 6 months full pay to their staff for SPL. However DH will only get full pay for the weeks he takes in the 6 months after the baby is born. For example, if we both took 6 months off from the birth, he would get 6 months full pay. However we don’t want to put the baby in full time childcare from 6 months as I’d have to go back to work then. So he is taking 4 weeks around month 4 (fully paid) and 4 weeks in month 11 unpaid.

I was a bit annoyed that he wasn’t entitled to full pay for the weeks in month 11 because his employer has decided against it (it’s in their policy)... and in practice, most employers SPL policies don’t actually support men to take more time off because it is very difficult to afford unpaid time off at the end. But I also think that the law and many employers are moving in the right direction, even though it’s not right yet...

Yes, Oxxy & DementedPixie have it correctly. He told his HR that he didn't see why he had to provide details of my maternity package (other than how many weeks I'm taking). They have now told him if he doesn't he will only get standard pay.

He's told them he thinks this is discriminatory. I can't see them asking Mother's to provide details of what their DH get & adjusting their maternity pay accordingly.