Payrise 'may not be granted' due to maternity and sick pay - can anyone advise?

[mrsteacher]

Some may guess who I am which is fine - changed name so that things are not directly traced back to me....

I am a teacher due to go up to the next level on my pay spine in September (for those who understand teachers' pay, it is the second level beyong the threashold - upper pay spine)

It is basically a formality in most schools (our head has said as much) and this year, myself and a few others are due for this pay rise.

Had meeting with boss this morning who said that he did not know whether he could recommend me for it as I my ;improvements; had to be 'substantial and sustained' and in his words, in the last 2 years, I have been either on maternity leave or on lond term sick (pregnancy related initially then post natal stress/sleep deprivation). The other people are going through automatically including one colleague who is just appalling.

I am sooooooooo annoyed and am about to look at my union website for the specific criteria that I need to show for 'substantial and sustained' improvements.

Just wondered about the legality of this - in performance related pay rises (which this effectively is) can this be done? Want to be armed with the facts.....

Many thanks

thread title shoul dread maternity and sick leave

As far as i am aware, they cannot do this on the basis of your having been off on maternity leave (dont honestly know about sick leave).

I think it counts under sex discrimination because of it being something that women will need to do that men cant/dont iyswim.

Im no expert though, clearly lol!

I remember being refused an annual pay rise for a similar reason - it was meant to be performance related and as maternity leave meant I had not been there to 'perform' they delayed my pay rise.

This was for a private company. I would expect teachers to have more rights.

As a compromise you could negotiate another pay review date (say in 3 months time) so you don't have to wait a whole extra year before being up for a pay rise again. You could also ask to be set specific performance targets until the next pay review, just to make things as clear cut as possible.

I don't know if it is illegal to refuse a performance related pay rise because of maternity or sick leave. I hope someone comes along to answer your question soon.

PS I'm not sure who you are..will have to think!

that is what i thought too

have just found the following on the NUT website:
Part-time teachers are entitled to an incremental spine point if they have worked during at least 26 weeks of the previous school year. There is no requirement to be employed to work the full week. Periods of time taken up on sick leave, maternity leave or parental leave are counted for incremental purposes.

The same is true of access to the post-threshold pay scale and progression on that pay scale. Part-time teachers are entitled to apply to cross the threshold in the same way as full time teachers when they reach the maximum point of the incremental pay scale.

Not fully relevant but am printing it off for my boss anyway and have a yellow highlighter to hand :)

I have performance targets (as do all teachers) and have sneakily asked my mentor to observe some teaching in a few weeks to assess these :)

Im sure that it is illegal to use maternity as a reason for not awarding a pay rise as this is discriminatory, surprised your boss doesnt know this. Even in performance related pay rises the pay rise has to be based on the time working and downgrading or not giving a rise because someone has been on maternity is also considered to be discrimination. I have challenged this one myself in the past and the employer backed down and paid up

Thanks

Should have also mentioned that following maternity i reduced my hours to 2 days a week from full time and gave up my responsibiltiy point....

I am going to challenege him
I am buggered if a certain teacher is getting it and I am not

Mrsteacher (and I think I know who you are). They can not hold maternity leave against you. That is assanine. Visit tiger.gov.uk (or whatever the address is).

Good luck!!

What about sick pay?

I was on the sick from 20 weeks pregnant until my maternity leave began, then since I returned in sept, I had 3 weeks before xmas then 5 weeks in mid jan - all due to strees/post natal whatsits and sleep deprivation at which point i begged them to reduce my hours. not had a day sick since

I'm afraid I don't know anything about sick leave rights, but thought I'd bump this for you.

try ringing the Acas Helpline, which answers your employment questions, it's free & confidential

08457 47 47 47 Monday - Friday 8am-6pm

I am going to give acas and my union rep a call

I was on the sick for a 4 week stretch then a sick week stretch. when I was pregnant I was on the sick for 11 weeks

I think they need to show that they treat everyone in the same way too..if there's someone else who's been sick (for whatever reason) they would need to have done exactly the same to them or else they'd be in trouble..
good luck,x

what about sickness after maternity leave?
not right after...back to work for a few months....but all tied in with pregnancy stuff...

still sickness though, no? I'm sure they can't discriminate against you just because of that.

I will ring the recommnded people tomorrow - DH (who works in management) reckons it is all very dodgy too

but it may be down to me to prove that i have mae the 'substantial and sigificant ' whatsit while others simply get the nod and the money

Without reading any other replies, this smacks of sex discrimination - as this could not be applied to a man. Talk to your union and try ACAS for further information.

I am going to tell my boss tomorrow that I will be applying for the payrise anyway and it is up to himself anfd the governors (the chair of which is a big union man) to decide whether I meet the criteria

i also have a print out for him :)

well i gave my boss a print out from my union website which stated firstly that if I had been on maternity or extended sick in the last two years then I had to be jusdged on the time that i had been in. and in extreme cases, if no evidence is avaiable, then I can gather the evidence until christmas and it can be backdated to september
his response was 'so how will you have evidence when you have hardly been here'

at that point i left the office and rang HR for my exact time on the sick
it is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo p***ing me off

mrs teacher -
I was on maternity leave for much of one academic year and was due to pass the 3rd threshold shortly after I came back. The school and board of governors can def NOT hold this against you, nor does sick leave count.
Sounds like he may be assy though about whether or not you have continued with the same standards displayed during the original threshold, and this could be the sticking point for you.
good luck with it all

hana - that is the point i am worried about as I have cut back my hours and given up a resopnsibility.

Am going to look again at the threashold criteria and double check before i kick up too much fuss. I can definitely get enough til christmas though and backdate]

I had gone back on one day a week and also lost ( or rather gave up) responsibility points - my head based it on that - so working parttime and giving up responsibility does not matter.
what a twit
I mean she based it on my working one day with no additional responsibilities

I had gone back on one day a week and also lost ( or rather gave up) responsibility points - my head based it on that - so working parttime and giving up responsibility does not matter.
what a twit