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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think I should get a share of his overtime pay

292 replies

Homealone01 · 10/02/2022 10:28

Ordinarily my partner and I take home a comparable wage and contribute 50:50 towards all bills, costs and expenses, including those related to our 1yr old child. Anything left over we keep individually for ourselves; we do not hate joint savings. We also split cooking, house maintenance and cleaning etc. All of this we are both happy with and seems ‘fair’ to us.

We both work full time, him 8-4 in the office and I work from home. In reality, although full time, my work takes up about 3-5hrs a day and so I tend to do little bits during our child’s naps in the daytime, spending the rest of the time taking care of her, then my partner looks after her once he’s home, so I can continue working/cook dinner and then I finish off once she goes to bed.

Partner has the opportunity to go away with work in a couple of months and would be gone for 8-10 weeks (gone the whole time, including weekends). This work will attract a big increase in overtime pay/bonus, c. £10k, but it will also be very long hours for him. We really need the money, so I’m happy for him to do this, but it is obviously going to make my job a lot harder too, as for those 8-10 weeks what was 50:50 in terms of childcare, cooking, cleaning etc will fall entirely on me, whilst still trying to fit in my job.

So, my question is, given that him going away will make my job a lot harder too, would it be fair to split his overtime/bonus pay? Or am I being unreasonable, he’s earned that, it’s his money?

OP posts:
LoisLane66 · 10/02/2022 16:39

@Snoozer11
Yeah...you're right. Let the OP get on with it herself. I thought married or co-habiting couples had hearts and wouldn't squabble over a few quid for a cleaner so that the person at home could get on with their work. I was wrong.
Don't people do nice stuff for each other any more, or is it all cut n dried down to 50/50 in every aspect of their lives. How sad. I'm glad I don't live like that.

Dixiechickonhols · 10/02/2022 17:01

Snoozer Some is his child’s mess/laundry though.
I personally don’t understand the set up with a child and suspect in many cases man ends up better off and she ends up doing more than 50% childcare, paying for more child related stuff etc. It seems like a lot of extra work to me dividing up cost of soft play, £1 Red Nose Day at nursery, new children’s shoes etc but that’s up to op.

Gizacluethen · 10/02/2022 17:12

He can only do it because you're doing more work too so yeah you should get a share. I would say you get a third I think.
It's about how much each of yours workload is going up which is pretty hard to workout so I'd aim for a third and settle for a quarter 😂

user68901 · 10/02/2022 17:17

Literally never understand why money isn’t pooled when married and with children…, unless one of you is completely irresponsible with money.
I can’t imagine how much time is wasted divvying everything up 50:50

OnceuponaRainbow18 · 10/02/2022 17:20

@Aprilx

Yea we have one account which both our wages go into and everything is paid out from and then what’s left over is used by whoever no questions asked!

Homealone01 · 10/02/2022 17:29

There’s been a lot said, so I’m just going to try to remember the main things to respond to (sorry if anyone wanted a response and I’ve forgotten!).

It’s not a case of dividing it up, we have a joint account plus separate personal accounts; all household/joint/child/holiday expenses come out of the joint account and we each top it up by the same amount when needed. We each have cards linked to that account, so just buy what’s needed.

My job is temporary, as my employer doesn’t want me doing my regular job whilst pregnant or breastfeeding. So they find me odd admin jobs in the meantime, hence the low hours.

We both took the same amount of shared parental leave after our child was born.

Thinking about it, I’d rather we avoid getting in childcare if we can. We need the money and that will take a big chunk of it, which sort of defeats the object. It will depend on how I cope with the job and him gone though I guess. I think it would be fair to think of the 10k as a joint contribution towards the renovation pot though, so I’ll bring this up.

OP posts:
treesandweeds · 10/02/2022 17:51

Er....this ..."My job is temporary, as my employer doesn’t want me doing my regular job whilst pregnant or breastfeeding. So they find me odd admin jobs in the meantime, hence the low hours." ......Sounds completely ILLEGAL!! What on earth do you mean by this?

Homealone01 · 10/02/2022 17:58

Why illegal? What law is being broken? I'd love to do my regular job, but their risk assessment says I can't, so they've found an alternative.

OP posts:
SleepingStandingUp · 10/02/2022 18:18

@Homealone01

Why illegal? What law is being broken? I'd love to do my regular job, but their risk assessment says I can't, so they've found an alternative.
What hours does your contract state? I think the issue is you being on say a 30 hour contract on 30k,you get pregnant and suddenly you're on 10 hours picking up 10k. It's discrimination to suddenly cut your hours and pay you less
formalineadeline · 10/02/2022 18:40

@Homealone01

Why illegal? What law is being broken? I'd love to do my regular job, but their risk assessment says I can't, so they've found an alternative.
It's not quite clear if you're being paid your full salary even though there isn't enough work to occupy you full time?

www.acas.org.uk/your-maternity-leave-pay-and-other-rights/health-at-work-during-pregnancy

The terms of your contract should not change, for example your pay needs to be the same.

Homealone01 · 10/02/2022 18:41

Yes, that would be illegal, I agree. That's a bit off topic though.....

OP posts:
Stressedout1009 · 10/02/2022 18:41

@Toanewstart23

I can’t get my ahead around being in a relationship with someone - so close you life together and have a child together

And yet this is issue

Same here. It sounds so transactional and cold.
formalineadeline · 10/02/2022 18:45

Yes, off topic, but fair for people to raise as you could have meant that was happening to you and been unaware it wasn't right.

SleepingStandingUp · 10/02/2022 19:39

@Homealone01

Yes, that would be illegal, I agree. That's a bit off topic though.....
So shoot people for wanting to check you're not being screwed over by work and not raising you have rights. Awful people, trying to be helpful
SleepingStandingUp · 10/02/2022 19:41

Tbf I just wNt to know where I can send DH to work for 8 weeks for 10k post tax on top of his usual salary.

EarthSight · 10/02/2022 20:54

[quote PrettyVacancy]@EarthSight Sorry, I totally agree with you, but I can see how my comment may have appeared flippant. Unless one is in an abusive relationship, I think money is best shared in one pot, because so many relationships, as evidenced on this board, seem to founder on the rocks of who earns what, pays for what and so on, until the sums involved must be minuscule. I have actually known a couple, unmarried but in a LTR, who drew lines on the milk carton, had separate packs of cheese etc. Sounds vile to me and they did separate in the end.

Obviously, if one of you is stingy or, conversely, a spendthrift, it wouldn’t work and, yes, women are normally the losers when it comes to earning ability, for several unfair reasons.[/quote]
Yes @PrettyVacancy I agree that it can be a sign of dysfunction. I haven't been in a relationship where that's been necessary with food. Like, how quickly was one person going through the pack of cheese?? Were they on similar earnings?

PrettyVacancy · 10/02/2022 21:03

@EarthSight I’m not sure how much she earned compared to him. I thought they were joking at first when they told me what they were doing re food. They had separate cupboards, but only one fridge so that’s where the lines on the milk and separate packs of cheese etc came into play. My husband and I still refer to it after nearly fifteen years because it was so shocking!

Homealone01 · 11/02/2022 09:19

That wasn't what I was trying to do, I was simply trying to say it's not an issue and get everyone back on topic

OP posts:
PrettyVacancy · 11/02/2022 09:38

The thing is OP, that whilst posters may start a thread, they rarely get to police the subsequent content. If you don’t want to read different viewpoints, it’s probably better not to post on a public forum. Basically, if you only want opinions that you have already formulated it’s easier just to talk to yourself 😉

MrsSkylerWhite · 11/02/2022 09:40

Once people have children, earnings are family money.

IamtheDevilsAvocado · 11/02/2022 09:47

@Akire

If my partner was going to do that it would have to be for a family goal not as a reason to inflate their savings. You are a family and that length of time causes strain even more so when one of you has sole childcare. If it was for some family holiday, new car or towards home improvements then everyone benefits. He works long hours so do you with all extra home work. I wouldn’t be happy agreeing to cover all free home working and childcare when he’s not sharing anything either. At very mim you need some childcare to cover his share so you can carry on working and have some adult time like I presume you have now.
This....

If it was towards a family goal... Eg. House deposit...
Ok...

But if it were essentially... I've made 10k that I'm now spending on my hobby while youve done ALL the childcare/mental load fir months... Nope

GreenDressRedWine · 11/02/2022 09:49

I think if you’re earning less because you’ve had children together then separate finances stop making sense. Could you have a joint account for most things and then have an allowance each for your own stuff that you spend without consulting each other? Otherwise you’re just facilitating his higher earnings. The £10k may have brought the topic up but I think how you handle finances generally is the bigger question.

Homealone01 · 11/02/2022 16:49

@PrettyVacancy not sure what that’s in reference to?! My post was asking for different viewpoints and I’ve been glad to get them, which I hope my responses have portrayed, but a few started to go off on a tangent about my work and my pay. I was simply making it clear that my pay is not an issue, nobody needs to worry about that, so I was trying to get back on track. I think you may have misunderstood.

OP posts:
Sh05 · 11/02/2022 17:17

I hope you've had a chance to speak to him or better yet he's brought it up himself that of course some of that bonus will be your OP

saraclara · 11/02/2022 17:27

As you already have several accounts, it would make sense to have a specific savings account for the household renovations. And if that's what he's doing this work for, then it would make sense for the bulk of the money to go into that account, with an agreement that the same would apply should you get some overtime.

Of course he might have some extra expenses, being away, as may you while you're holding the fort, so it should also be seen that this money also funds those expenses. But the bulk of it should go in that account IMO, with no expectations that you find the same amount of money to match it, somehow.