Delaying my pay rise til after mat leave

[photographerlady]

So my employer has let me have an appraisal at 35 weeks. Instead of having one when I am not there in September. Thing is they agreed a pay rise to propose to the CFO which they will do in September but trying to put in my acceptance terms that it doesn't start til my return in December. Can they really delay it and choose to not start it in October just because I am on leave?

It doesn't sound fair but my understanding is that maternity pay is calculated from pay earlier in the pregnancy (I can't find the link for exact dates right now...) but I hope I'm wrong for your sake!

The law is that you must not be disadvantaged compared to non-childbearing employees and all your benefits of employment except pay continue as if you weren't on leave. Maternity pay though is not based on "what you would be getting if you weren't on leave" but is based on what you were being paid during a specific period - week17-25 of your pregnancy. If you were just getting smp then you would just be on the basic rate by September anyway so presumably your employers are one of the nice ones paying out more than they have to. I don't think they are being unreasonable to base that extra on the same pay period given that they are already going above and beyond their legal obligations. Not a legal expert though.

Under something called the Alabaster Ruling if a woman gets a pay rise after her SMP has been calculated but before the end of her maternity pay period then her SMP has to be recalculated for the whole period based on the new salary. So delaying a pay rise until after SMP has finished does have a financial impact on the woman on maternity leave.

OP is it the case that reviews/pay rises take place for everyone in September/October and you would be the exception?

I stand corrected
Yes found a link here
"average weekly earnings calculation must now take account of pay rises awarded, or which would have been awarded to a woman had she not been on maternity leave"

This pay rise would very clearly have been awarded if you had not been on maternity leave so yes you should be getting the extra for your entire maternity pay.

It's a company wide review in Sept, raises take effect in October but they told me my pay rise would not begin til I return in December. My smp ends at the end ofc Oct and goes to holiday pay as I have 45 days to use.

Is it just SMP you get or enhanced pay?

So your maternity leave ends and you are back at work (just on holiday rather than in the office) at the end of October? You'll be receiving normal salary like your colleagues except theirs will have gone up and yours won't?

Your pay rise must take effect at the same time as everyone else's, otherwise they are discriminating against you by treating you less favourably because you have taken maternity leave.

Just Smp. Thanks everyone it just sounded wrong when they said it going to challenge it.

You're not taking all 45 days holiday at once are you (does that leave you with any for the remaining holiday year?) but from what you've said I'd assume that your pay rise takes effect when your normal salary resumes in November, not when you physically return to work in December!

How does SMP compare to your wages?

I am taking 45 days but I work in events and have 20 more days after that due to banking up so many weekends and public holidays. Smp is nothing compared to my salary