Keeping in Touch days

[seoladair]

Does anyone know whether I would be paid for my Keeping in Touch days on top of maternity pay? My hourly rate is £23.37 per hour, and I'm thinking of doing several 6 hour days. My maternity pay will be c. £128 per week. Would I forfeit the maternity pay, or would I be paid it plus the rate for 6 hours work?

I only get paid when on unpaid leave

I'm pretty sure you should get it on top of your maternity pay but I guess all companies are different

Where I work it gets taken off your maternity pay so I get paid for that day instead of a weeks stat maternity pay

Depends on the employer. Some pay for it some don't. You'll have to ask them.

Thanks for these useful replies, everyone. It seems there's no statutory rule then.

The statutory rule is that you can do up to 10 days paid work without forfeiting your SMP. Whether your employer will allow you to do those days and how much you get paid is entirely between you and them. Normal practice is for you to receive your normal pay rate which would mean your employer 'topping up' your maternity pay to the appropriate level.

Thank you, flowery.

I did just 3 days while on smp, 2 weeks before starting back. Got my normal hourly rate but it took until my next pay day t go through. O yes, I was paid in addtion o smp

I teach drama part-time, and my employer has said I can't have any KIT days. I'm currently in dispute with them over maternity pay. HMRC ruled that i am entitled to it. but my employer has appealed. They do allow people to take KIT days. Does this constitute pregnancy discrimination? The HR department have been pretty awful to me.

Seoladair as I said in my post earlier in the thread, it's entirely up to your employer whether they allow you to do KIT days. They're a voluntary arrangement on both sides and neither your employer nor you have any entitlement to them if the other party doesn't want them.

Sorry, but you can't insist.

On what basis are your employer disputing your entitlement to SMP? It's usually pretty clear whether someone gets it or not. Are they appealing HMRC's ruling?

Hi Flowery,
Thanks for this - it's useful to know. If they have a policy of allowing other people to take KIT days though, isn't this discriminatory?
The HR department are very angry with me for getting HMRC involved, and even angrier that HMRC have agreed with me. They say I'm a casual worker, therefore not entitled to SMP. I've been treated as employed for years, but some very dodgy employment practices have been going on, and lots of people who do the same work as me are being treated as self-employed, so my employer can avoid paying National Insurance for them.
They have also refused to accept that HMRC makes SMP provision for casual workers who fulfil certain conditions. Having worked very happily in this job for years, my work is in jeopardy due to pregnancy. I didn't think it could happen in 2011.

Is it a 'policy' of allowing certain people to take KIT days and not others? Or is it just that you haven't been allowed and others have been allowed?

There's a difference between discriminatory and unfair. It may be unfair if other women on maternity leave have been allowed to use their KIT days, but unless there is a discriminatory reason for that (your ethnicity for example) it's not discrimination.

It might also depend on what you want to use the KIT days for and whether your employer can allow that. If you're a teacher then presumbly your classes are all covered, so KIT days would be usually used for training days or similar. Have there been specific things you've wanted to do, or meetings you've wanted to attend and they have said no?

They don't specify who can or can't take KIT days, they just say that staff may use KIT days. I said back in January that I'd like to do KIT days, but they just told me a few days ago that I can't. As I said, HR are just furious that I've challenged them on my right to maternity pay. My claim for SMP has definitely put me in an awkward position, and I thought it was unlawful for a woman to suffer a detriment due to a claim for SMP. However, from what you're saying, it seems that this wouldn't be considered as a detriment. Have I understood that correctly?
BTW this is very helpful - do you work in HR or the law?