Appraisals & Pay Rise while on Mat Leave

[workingmumof2cb]

Hi All,

I’m new to the site and this is my first post. Have been reading through others and found the information to be really helpful.

I hope some of you may be able to offer some advice on my situation (thanks in advance)

I am currently on Maternity leave, and have been since May 2017 (Return to work date scheduled for early March 2017).

I have felt alienated ever since being on maternity leave - have hardly received any contact from my bosses and the only way I have been informed of major changes to the business is through a colleague of mine.

Now this colleague (myself and her do the same role and actually work together in delivering training sessions - however I worked in the company prior to her commencing and trained her in most of the aspects of the job) contacted me last week to indicate that the annual appraisals were taking place. Then, on the works Christmas night out, disclosed to me that she was given a huge 25% pay rise due to her ‘stepping up’ and doing so well since I was on maternity leave.

Now I have never been approached by my boss to make me aware of any upcoming appraisals, never mind being invited along for one or even given the option to attend.

I want to approach my employer and query this, giving them the benefit of doubt of course. I just wanted to check where I stand in relation to my colleagues pay increase? Should I be offered the same pay rise? Or am I excluded due to being on maternity leave?

Thanks in advance

We had no appraisal while on mat leave - which made sense to me as I wasn’t there, so what’s to appraise? Annual pay rise was based on previous appraisal but we had less than 1% raises anyway.

Yes I would tend to agree and would be happy to receive appraisal when I return to work, if this is employers plan. Would just be nice to be informed of this. Just wondering what my stance would be if not offered any pay rise

You should be appraised if you worked any part of the year in question, and you are also entitled to pay review, and bonus pro rata for the amount of time you worked that year.

Thanks jontydoggle

I think legally when you are on maternity leave you are entitled to thee same pay increases as if you are in work each day.

In know that with my company I wasn't invited for an appraisal, and certainly wasn't given a pay rise whilst on maternity leave. But they claim that it wasn't anything to do with being on leave at the time, and there is no way to prove otherwise.

Your employer must give you the same pay rise you would have got had you not gone on maternity leave. They don't necessarily need to match the 25% rise your colleague got as that was merit based but if there was a general pay rise your salary should also have changed at the same time. This may mean your employer has to recalculate your maternity pay based on your new salary, so you may be due some additional maternity pay.

Regarding the appraisal, the fundamental question is whether you have been disadvantaged. If pay rises and promotions are linked to appraisals (it sounds like they are from your post) you have a case for arguing that your appraisal should happen as soon as possible after you return to work and that any pay rise should be backdated to when it would have happened had the appraisal taken place at the normal time. When conducting the appraisal they cannot use your maternity leave as a reason to reduce your rating.

Thank you prh47bridge, really helpful info there. It’s a really small company I work for, and colleague had advised she was told her pay rise would bring her salary ‘in line with all other staff members’ (excluding myself) - so can’t help feeling disadvantaged if this won’t be offered to myself. Have always received excellent rating in appraisals, though there was a pay freeze last year so nobody received any increases just a ‘thanks for all your hard work’