Is my boss acting okay?

[Nokolite]

I told my boss I’m pregnant about a week ago. Also asked what kind of pregnancy policy she has - how long would be my maternity leave and how much would I get paid etc. No response for a couple of days. Then she got back to me saying she will of course pay me maternity. No answer how long and how much etc. Also she recently asked me to do 10 hours a day instead of 8. So I asked her if she could put those new hours in my contract me. To that which she replied : I understand. It will also give you more money when you're on maternity leave. Why am I feeling she’s being sarcastic? I’m only asking for those hours to be in a contract as what’s going to happen is when it comes to maternity leave I will only be paid for 8 hours although my hours are 10 now.
my husband says I should give her more time to sort it but I’m giving birth in about 3.5 months and I’m feeling anxious.
also just to add - my company is really little, just myself and my boss. I’m her only employee.

Any advice will be appreciated.

Thank you. So it’s pretty much up to her if she’s willing to pay more. She’s been strange from the very beginning about this. Never asked when would I like to go on maternity leave from etc.
I know she’s never had this situation before but I expected more from her - it’s been over a week and she just said she will pay me maternity but no mention on how much, how long for etc.

And if in my contract says 8 hours but I’m doing 10 (a day) and my pay check reflects those 10 hours, would that amount based on 10 hours be considered in qualifying weeks although in my contract it says 8? Or is it better to make sure she puts 10 in my contract?

No.

Your maternity pay is based on your actual pay received in a specific period. What's in your contract doesn't matter.

You can use a maternity calculator online.

You are entitled to 39 weeks paid leave and an additional 13 weeks unpaid. You can choose to take the entire thing or not.

Yes it sounds like your boss hasn't dealt with this before but you need to also take some personal responsibility and look into your legal entitlement yourself, you need to look at giving your boss the date you'd like to start maternity leave, whether you're using accrued annual leave before this or tagging in onto the end (or a mixture of both). You need to provide your boss with a copy of your MATB1.

Is it common for small companies to offer enhanced maternity pay or not really?

Yes and I think I meant it 😄 The qualifying week is 15 weeks before. And mat pay is based on the eight weeks before qualifying week.

There are maternity pay calculators online that would help OP work all this out, it always seems to be very complicated for something that happens all the time!

The contract hours are irrelevant as we have all said OP. It is based on your pay in the qualifying weeks.

If there is nothing specified/documented anywhere I would have thought that you will receive statutory mat pay. Don't assume that you will be paid more than this unless you have evidence that they pay enhanced mat pay.

In my working experience it’s very very rare that a small business pays anything other than the statutory. They need someone to do the job so typically won’t pay someone for being off on maternity because they’ll be paying somebody else to do the job in the mean time. They don’t have to pay anything above the SMP so most don’t.

thank you so much for your replies, it really has helped me with understanding all this.

If I take only 6 months maternity and then wanted to take my paid holiday leave on top of that, would I be paid maternity amount during paid holiday or usual rate I have when I’m on my annual holiday?

The 90% of salary is based on the actual salary in roughly weeks 17-25 of pregnancy so if you earn more money in those weeks your maternity pay in the first 6 weeks of leave will be higher. Then the rest of you maternity pay will £184.03 or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower), per week until 39 weeks

It's very unlikely a small business will have enhanced maternity pay. And if you took holiday pay you would only get holiday pay as that would be ending your maternity leave

You'd technically be back at work so you'd get normal holiday pay. You'd need to liaise with your employer to see how much holiday you can take beforehand and how much you could carry over

It’s understandable that you're feeling anxious, especially with maternity leave and salary concerns on the horizon. Given that you’re the only employee, it seems like your boss might be trying to manage both your maternity leave and the increased hours in a way that works for her as well. print shop near me
However, your concerns about ensuring your new 10-hour workdays are reflected in your contract are valid. It’s important that your contract clearly outlines the specifics of your working hours, as well as your maternity leave terms.

I wouldn't see her not knowing off the top of her head as a red flag necessarily. It took my employee (smaller business but limited company and circa 15 employees) a little while to come back to me because they simply hadn't had a maternity leave for about 15 years so wanted to check they were all up to date and within the law before they said a word to me. If she's a two-man band and hasn't encountered maternity leave before I can't imagine she's gone out of her way to keep up to date on the laws around it.

If you end your maternity leave and start annual leave then your maternity is over, so you’d be paid in whichever way your usual annual leave is paid (hourly/daily).

Using annual leave does completely end your maternity leave though so your SMP would stop.

@Nokolite you're going to have to calm down. Your employer has 28 days to get back to you with info about pay and acknowledging when you want your leave to start. You need to tell her when you plan to start maternity leave and at some point give her your MatB1 form.

You will get statutory only unless there is an enhanced maternity package, which sounds unlikely

You can only claim SMP when you are actually in maternity leave. If you then take annual leave your maternity pay will stop

Thank you.
how many of you received an enhanced pay and was it a bigger company?

I did, and it was a very big company.

I'm not at all surprised that it's only statutory if you're the only employee.

That’s good to know for the future although I’m not planning on anymore children.
was it the exactly same amount that you were paid before maternity?
it’s my fault for working for such a small company, I can’t complain now.

Your employer is doing nothing wrong in offering SMP only. Lots of companies only offer the statutory entitlement. Many simply couldn't afford to offer more.

Yes, some employers do offer enhanced packages in order to attract the best staff, just as many offer occupational sick pay, higher pension contributions and various other benefits. The time to find out about these is before you accept any contracts.

@Nokolite

Many, many large companies also only offer statutory maternity leave.

Small businesses almost certainly will.

Your boss is not doing anything wrong.