Part Time working before going on Maternity Leave

[Rhiannon2006]

Hi Guys

I am currently 23 weeks pregnant and work part time in my job, i have a query which i hope someone can help me with!!

Because i work part time my pay for the year is calculated on the amount of hours that i work and then divided by 12 so that my pay is the same for each month of the year.

I filled in the details that my employer needs to work out my pay for next year based on the hours that i would work. I am due to go on Maternity leave in February and my employer has based my pay on only working for the 7 weeks of the year rather than the whole years pay and then divided by 12 which is what she would normally do. I cannot see that this is a fair way of doing this as if you were a full time worker it wouldnt be worked out like that would it?!!

If what she has done is correct then i would get more money for going on Maternity Leave early then i would for working the 7 weeks of the year.

Please can someone help me!!

Louise

Presumably you have an hourly rate? You should get paid for the hours you work, so if the amount your employer proposes to pay you falls short of the amount you should get for the hours you work during the 7 weeks you will be at work, that's not correct.

It sounds clear that it won't be enough so when is your employer proposing to pay you the amount still owing?

Yes my pay works on my hourly rate x the amount of hours worked!

She has basically worked out how much i should get for 7 weeks worth of work and thats it - i was under the impression that it should still be based on what i would work in the year if i wasnt on maternity leave and divided by the 12 months?

If i was to go on maternity leave from Christmas i would get the same amount of money for the first 6 weeks than if i was to work for seven weeks!!

It should be based on how much you actually work, not how much you would work if...

So if your hourly rate is £10 an hour, and you work 25 hours a week for 7 weeks, you should be paid £10 x 25 x 7 = £1750 for those 7 weeks.

Flowery - how do you know this information? I have searched everywhere and couldnt find that out!!!

Um, what information are you looking for exactly though?

If you want to know how much you should be paid, and you know your hourly rate and know how many hours you will be working that's all you need to know.

well i just couldnt work it out because i would have thought it should have been based on the whole year and divided by 12!

Presumably the dividing by 12 thing is because your hours vary month by month, so it's to keep some consistency of pay for you. But your hourly rate is presumably in your contract, so what you get paid is the hours you do multiplied by your hourly rate. In a normal year month by month if your hours vary then sometimes you will get paid more than you work, sometimes less, but your hourly rate is what it is, and overall what you get paid should be for the hours you actually work.

When you say part time do you mean term-time?