Maternity leave: employer discretion, pay and benefits

[Catnipdelight]

Hello all 👋

I haven't been at my current employer for long enough to qualify for maternity pay/SMP, so I will be taking maternity allowance.

This is all fine and I'm not expecting anything else.

I just wanted to ask and see if anyone had any surprisingly positive experiences in a case like this -- e.g has anyone had an employer who offered them longer service maternity benefits even if you hadn't been there quite long enough?

Just curious, really! My employer is aware and we are about to do all the paperwork/admin side. They've been really lovely so far.

@Catnipdelight

Hello all 👋

I haven't been at my current employer for long enough to qualify for maternity pay/SMP, so I will be taking maternity allowance.

This is all fine and I'm not expecting anything else.

I just wanted to ask and see if anyone had any surprisingly positive experiences in a case like this -- e.g has anyone had an employer who offered them longer service maternity benefits even if you hadn't been there quite long enough?

Just curious, really! My employer is aware and we are about to do all the paperwork/admin side. They've been really lovely so far.

Hey! I work for the local authority and have done for over 10 years. I'll be eligible for 6 weeks pull pay, 20 weeks half pay + SMP, then it will be 13 weeks SMP only. However we have the option of ' keeping in touch days' which is 10 days a month before returning to work which is paid at normal rate which is good! It works out around 9 months maternity leave but then usually annual leave is added onto this.

My friend works in the private financial sector and is only entitled to 3 months paid maternity leave. Amazing how different companies and countries work it!

I just wanted to ask and see if anyone had any surprisingly positive experiences in a case like this -- e.g has anyone had an employer who offered them longer service maternity benefits even if you hadn't been there quite long enough?

Not to spell out the obvious, but what do you think would happen if the company said "oh, go ahead, I know you don't technically qualify, but we really like you, have the benefits"? Everyone in the past or future who was in the same circumstance and didn't get them now has grounds for a grievance. Or quite possibly a discrimination claim. Why you and not them? Benefits cutoffs have to be clear and transparently applied.

@FennecShandDoesEverything

I just wanted to ask and see if anyone had any surprisingly positive experiences in a case like this -- e.g has anyone had an employer who offered them longer service maternity benefits even if you hadn't been there quite long enough?

Not to spell out the obvious, but what do you think would happen if the company said "oh, go ahead, I know you don't technically qualify, but we really like you, have the benefits"? Everyone in the past or future who was in the same circumstance and didn't get them now has grounds for a grievance. Or quite possibly a discrimination claim. Why you and not them? Benefits cutoffs have to be clear and transparently applied.

I'm not sure what industry you work in but I don't think it would be completely unheard of.

As I said, I'm not expecting anything more than what I am officially entitled to, but there are companies who value their employees more than just doing what the rule book says, especially in younger more agile companies.

@FennecShandDoesEverything I do take your point about having to have the same rules for all, though. I guess with that in mind, maybe there won't be any examples of flexibility.

As I said, I'm not expecting anything more than what I am officially entitled to, but there are companies who value their employees more than just doing what the rule book says, especially in younger more agile companies.

Companies are absolutely free to offer more than the legal minimum benefits around parental leave and pay and many do. But they wouldn't just make exceptions on a case by case basis, they'd make their own more generous but consistent rule and put it in their rule book. And they aren't particularly keen in general to incentivise employees to join and immediately get pregnant - generous companies generally offer longer on full or enhanced pay but still with a minimum qualifying period.

Presumably you've checked your own organisation's policy already and seen if they offer any enhanced pay above the legal minimum in your circumstances. But I have never known a company offer additional pay to someone with minimum service who doesn't qualify for SMP, and I wouldn't get your hopes up about an exception.

I imagine you’d have to be in a very senior role that is very difficult to recruit for them to even consider giving you additional maternity benefits if you haven’t worked there long enough to even qualify for SMP.

I work for a FTSE100 and essentially as long as you don’t start your job already pregnant, you will receive 6 months of fully paid parental leave, with no claw back.

The same is extended to fathers so theoretically one family could have 12 months paid leave if they both worked here.

I worked in financial services and know of 2 women who started the job pregnant, and the company liked them so much they offered to pay enhanced mat pay

It can happen. But might not so don’t pin your hopes on it! Maybe worth an informal chat with HR

@Porridgeislife

I work for a FTSE100 and essentially as long as you don’t start your job already pregnant, you will receive 6 months of fully paid parental leave, with no claw back.

The same is extended to fathers so theoretically one family could have 12 months paid leave if they both worked here.

Not starting pregnant is pretty much the time served with an employer minimum for SMP eligibility anyway. And you couldn't ever get 12 months paid shared parental leave because only 39 weeks can be paid in total whether taken entirely by the mother or shared between both parents. The company could make a special offer to still pay extra leave, I guess, but it wouldn't be within their SPL policy because it goes against the rules for maternity/SP leave. We're on SPL at the moment and basically have about 5 weeks "extra" paid leave that we can't take because it would mean going over 39 total paid weeks.

Also, between DH and I we've worked at 3 places whereby they basically give the enhanced pay for the pregnancy/child rather than for each parent. DH's work offers 26 weeks full paid leave but if both the mother and father worked there, they'd only offer this once and that enhanced pay would be shared between them and the remaining 3 months of paid eligible leave just at statutory rate. The institutions I've worked for don't offer quite as good an amount of full paid leave but also wouldn't give it twice if both parents worked for them. Feels incredibly unfair (especially as DH works for one of the largest employers in the country) but it's how it goes.

SPL is great in theory, but incredibly complicated in practice in my experience.

Our written policy literally states that it’s possible for a married couple to each have six months off. Presumably as I work there, I might have a bit more knowledge as to how our enhanced leave works

@Porridgeislife

Our written policy literally states that it’s possible for a married couple to each have six months off. Presumably as I work there, I might have a bit more knowledge as to how our enhanced leave works

Then that's wonderful, and as I wrote in my post additional leave could maybe be granted. But your employer is working outside of the SPL regulations, as they clearly state up to 37 paid weeks can be shared (two weeks post birth must be taken by the mother) - www.gov.uk/shared-parental-leave-and-pay

My employer pays enhanced maternity, and still pays that part even if an Employee doesn’t qualify for SMP so it’s definitely worth checking

We offer enhanced pay in 14 years weve never offered it to anyone not meeting the eligibility criteria

@ECPCR2 they never said it was shared parental leave but that they offer paid parental leave to both the mother and father independently.

My friend managed to negotiate a full package (with BT I think) when joining already pregnant. Worth trying OP!

@Porridgeislife

I work for a FTSE100 and essentially as long as you don’t start your job already pregnant, you will receive 6 months of fully paid parental leave, with no claw back.

The same is extended to fathers so theoretically one family could have 12 months paid leave if they both worked here.

Aviva?

Hi! Yes I am in the process of this with my company. I accepted my job and resigned and worked notice at my old job, took a short break (3 weeks) before starting the new job and found out in this time I was pregnant. I had never even looked into this and was really shocked at how women get screwed by these "loopholes" the govt creates. I'm not eligible for SMP nor the company enhanced package, but my company is looking into what they can do for me as they want to ensure I return vs having to hold my job / equivalent job for up to 12 months and leaving me wide open to taking up a better offer (perhaps with a signing bonus) while I'm out which would definitely leave me financially better off and with no loyalty to my new company. I think it really depends on your role, ability to hire a replacement, and your manager's ability to get things done. HR I find tends to do what the business tells them to do and advises on how to get it done / consequences. I certainly wouldn't have this conversation with them, but instead with your manager who will be able to advocate for you and the business consequence of possibly losing you. I think you need to be objective about how replaceable you are and the culture of the company you work at, and then decide how to approach it. But I 100% think you should ask and also know why it's in their benefit (without threatening them) to pay you. Good luck!

@Findingmyway38

Hi! Yes I am in the process of this with my company. I accepted my job and resigned and worked notice at my old job, took a short break (3 weeks) before starting the new job and found out in this time I was pregnant. I had never even looked into this and was really shocked at how women get screwed by these "loopholes" the govt creates. I'm not eligible for SMP nor the company enhanced package, but my company is looking into what they can do for me as they want to ensure I return vs having to hold my job / equivalent job for up to 12 months and leaving me wide open to taking up a better offer (perhaps with a signing bonus) while I'm out which would definitely leave me financially better off and with no loyalty to my new company. I think it really depends on your role, ability to hire a replacement, and your manager's ability to get things done. HR I find tends to do what the business tells them to do and advises on how to get it done / consequences. I certainly wouldn't have this conversation with them, but instead with your manager who will be able to advocate for you and the business consequence of possibly losing you. I think you need to be objective about how replaceable you are and the culture of the company you work at, and then decide how to approach it. But I 100% think you should ask and also know why it's in their benefit (without threatening them) to pay you. Good luck!

What a naive post.

SMP has always been based on length of service and qualifying earnings, not sure what 'loopholes' you are referring to or why the OP would need to threaten her employer? Besides, Maternity Allowance is the same weekly rate as SMP after the first 6 weeks. Perhaps you'd have been clear on this if you'd have looked into it

Companies can choose to offer what enhancements they like within whatever parameters they like; my company has recently changed our enhanced offering to a day 1 entitlement, meaning you could join on day 1 at 39 weeks pregnant and receive 6 months full pay - all implemented by HR, although according to you we just do what we're told

OP - you don't ask you don't get. Not all companies are adverse to discretion or case by case application so it's worth having a conversation. Even those HR monsters may be able to assist you

@MarceyMc I think your post is a bit harsh, that poster was giving her experience / good advice. I completely understand what she meant by “loophole”. The problem with having these qualifying periods is that often women stay in roles they don’t really want / become overqualified for because they’re planning a child and worried to move in case they fall in the unpaid period. It really widens the gender pay gap / inequality that men can move whenever they want without this being a consideration. Until there is a tightening of that qualifying period then this will continue to be the case.

She was also making sure that the OP understood that she should NOT threaten her employer but have a mature conversation about it.

I think you completely misread my post. The loophole I refer to, is that women who have been working consistently and paying tax get excluded from SMP if they make a job change while falling pregnant. Given this is a govt refunded item, it's not the companies but the govt who are finding a way to pay out less, with the side effect of perpetuating gender inequality in women's careers. And you are 100% correct I didn't look into any of this when changing jobs (very naive of me) because my pregnancy was a surprise, but I assure you I quickly made sure to know exactly what the laws and payments are which allowed me to have a conversation with my manager to explain to him what the implications are for me (he naively didn't know) and the risks to the business through this. And we have now come to an agreement that works for both sides. And HR just signed off after being told what the business needed to retain a key member of staff. While I wish all HR people were as utterly amazing as you clearly are, the reality is they are not, and they also have a role to play in the business (which is to protect the business that they work for's interests), so my advice would still stand - have a business conversation with a business leader. Unless HR already has a brilliant policy in place, wasn't the case for me, and isn't the case for OP.

PS. I said don't threaten

I know at least two people who have successfully negotiated. As previous posters have said, SMP is a statutory government payment so your employer can’t change the rules there, but they can choose to offer you discretionary pay, either at SMP level or enhanced if that’s their standard policy. I imagine it will depend on how generous your employer’s mat pay policy is and how valued your individual role is. The trade off might be that you agree to return sooner than you would like. Good luck.

This thread is scaring me a little. I started anew job on Feb 2nd and discovered on Wednesday that I am 5 weeks pregnant. I will be 2 weeks short to meet the companies maternity pay threshold (26 weeks continuous service before 15 weeks before due date) will I still be eligible for SMP or will I get nothing during my maternity leave?

@Catnipdelight I'm in financial services and it's not at all unheard of! I know someone who started at a big American bank when already pregnant and they gave her the full additional pay anyway. At my old firm they had someone start a new job who turned out to be pregnant so HR changed the mat leave policy so that she could qualify for their additional pay straight away.

SMP has the same qualification rule @Pinktruffle. You’ll probably be eligible for Maternity Allowance.

www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave/eligibility

Ahh thank you @Moancup, it looks as though it's about the same amount. I wonder if my work place would be open to negotiation. I highly doubt it as it's a charity but if you don't ask, you don't get.