Maternity rights to time in lieu?

[Arcticpuff]

Genuinely not sure where else to ask as am getting conflicting views from HR, ACAS, pregnant then screwed and others at work!

my workplace has summer hours every year from May - August. It’s where you can finish work at 12 every Friday.

Before I went on maternity leave a co-worker said to me to make sure I check whether summer hours are going ahead this year as I should be entitled to those half days accumulated as annual leave during maternity leave, since other staff members benefit from them.

HR have said no as it’s not a contractual benefit, however ACAS said it might meet the threshold, pregnant then screwed said I should be able to claim those hours back. So am a bit stuck and wanted to see if anyone on here had this before in terms of workplace ‘benefits’ on Mat leave.

Thank you in advance

Are you even reading OP’s comments? I don’t think you are…

I am.

So it’s daft for her to think she is entitled when

a) no one in a very large company in five years including even HR personnel have ever even enquired about what the OP wants

why

because it is not a contractual benefit and could be withdrawn at any time whatsoever

So all the people who work part time and don’t work Fridays - they should be paid for that half day on Friday?

Again, thankfully I’ve had some helpful replies here and a few private messages off people with similar perks who were entitled to it once returning from maternity leave

you sound incredibly bitter

Oh good grief! 😂

nope, but those who do work PT (a handful) usually arrange the half day on one of their working days

Hi OP, I’m currently on mat leave. My company has an additional xmas shut down period. Equates to 4 days total, I had this added to my annual leave entitlement.

If they didn’t give them to me, technically my coworkers would have an additional 4 days annual leave which would be discrimination. They were not happy about it tho.

Custom and practice can also form part of your "employment contract" as implied terms (not just the express wording in your contract).

So if leave is offered to the whole workforce as a custom, it could in theory become an implied term of your employment contract. I'm not an employment lawyer but it is certainly an interesting example

Very large company
how on earth do you know so much about all the employees over a five year period

A “handful” in a very large company work part time?

If you Google custom and practice in employment contracts, there are quite a few explanations from solicitors. It could be worth a chat with an employment solicitor to find out the position, which will probably depend on the specific facts.

I have this

written in to my contract

Is yours?

Jesus Christ, you’re a joke

Thank you so much, good to know what to look into as I was drawing a blank on what to even put into google for this as it’s not contractual etc. but everyone gets it

I’m curious

very large company
five years

and you seem to know the ins and outs of every employees contract and working hours arrangement

Never said I know the ins and outs of everyone’s working arrangements.

I do know part time is incredibly rare as we have a U.K. wide teams group for those who do ‘abnormal’ working patterns to post and get support etc. and I can think of 5-6 people who do part time, genuine part time. The vast, vast majority do condensed hours

when you say “very large” company I was imagining thousands

but for you to think you know all those that work or have worked part time - and how they have dealt with those that don’t work Fridays…. Then perhaps not my definition of a “very large” company

Your employer might have an employee assistance line or equivalent that might be able to point you in the right direction.

Good luck!

I’ll bow out

but please update with the outcome!

IANAL.

but I do think that if employees only use 4.5 days of holiday for every full summer week booked off, there’s an argument that it is a set of “free” half days.

(It’s also not really time in lieu as per your title, that’s holiday given to compensate for working non-normal hours eg a Monday off if you worked the Saturday for a conference)

Oh I mean tens of thousands.

UK workforce is 18,000+ alone

@TuesandThursNero seriously what is your problem? Why are you hounding the OP for absolutely no reason at all? Are you the CEO of the company that she works for?!

If your company does something similar to the OPs company and you go on maternity leave, it’s not out of this world to stop and think, ‘will I still be able to take advantage of this alongisde/after (however the hell it works) my mat leave.’

You seem to have a bee in your bonnet based on what? You’re literally going back and forth with the OP for no reason. Do you not have a job??

Sorry OP I have no advice as my work has never offered anything like this but hope it works out for you🤞

Yes sorry, wasn’t sure what to call it (essentially I want the half days added to my annual leave allowance for the year to take when I come back from maternity leave)

So 18000 people. Today.

in 5 years no one has asked for this?

and there is a “handful” of part time workers, all of which have arranged their hours so that they work Friday afternoon ie get it off but still get paid

ok