no pay rise or bonus while on MAT? please help.

[horseshoe]

Hi,

I had DD2 in Jan and came back to work in May.

Our pay reviews and bonuses run from Jan - Dec but are not paid until the following March. I was off sick from Oct as my daughter had ABS losing her arm in the womb, I was bleeding heavily and I was at extreme risk of premature labour. I was paid in full for this time as my compnay operates a 12 week full sick pay. They placed me on maternity wef 25th Dec.

Anyway come March I had no letter to discuss pay reviews or bonus and did not receive one. When I came back to work they handed me a pay slip that had nothing on it. I was so angry that I went to my manager and asked why I hadn't received a letter. As far as I was concerned I was still entitled to be considered. He said that they wern't that good anyway.

To me thats not the point. Everyone got one which makes me think I was clearly discriminated against. I want to kick up a stink but wondered if this is even against the law?

Can anyone help.

yes, itis against the law. you re entitled to pay rises/bonuses on mat leave (and indeed on sick leave).
speak to yuor manager again and say that you want to discuss it and see what he has to say about why ou were excluded. be calm! if you don't get anywhere, then ask for another meeting with him and HR ~(if you have HR) or with your manager's manager?

Not only are you entitled to your pay rise / bonus, but they also must take this pay rise into account when they calculate your maternity pay. So, if you get a rise before you return, they need to base your mat pay on this higher rate (so 90% or whatever you get of the higher salary).

I'll se if I can find a link...

in calculating "average pay" for the purposes of the first six weeks of SMP, the employee is entitled to benefit from any pay rise awarded between the beginning of the "reference period" used to calculate "average pay" and the end of maternity leave (Alabaster v Woolwich plc and Secretary of State for Social Security [2004] IRLR 486)

eoc law

GOOD LUCK!!!