bonus and maternity leave

[Boboli]

Hi - my discretionary company bonus year is April-March. I went on mat leave in 1 May returning 1 Feb.
There is a company element - 70% and individual - 30%
My bonus has been paid according to my average salary across the 12 months on the 70%. I've been given 0% for the individual elements.

Can this be right? The reason I've not contributed individually is because on mat leave so isn't this indirect discrimination? No-one talked to me about setting me a target I could achieve in the time I was present in the bonus year.

I suspect my company will have the legalities covered but I just wanted to check.

Did you have a full year target set? I'd personally be averaging that as a monthly figure and see if you hit it for the time you weren't on maternity leave, if you did then I don't see why they can't pay it.

In my company, you only accrue bonus for the first 12 weeks of mat leave and get no bonus for the rest of your ml. This is written in the company's maternity policy. Is there anything in your policy to clarify what they pay in terms of bonus?

This came up on a thread last week. See here

So, anyway, yes, I would kick up a stink myself, because I think they are out of kilter with current leanings of the employment Tribunals regarding discretionary bonuses. I would probably check with a good lawyer too to see if there have been any recent rulings in this area.