Please help! Should I be denied a bonus?

[J3ssicaJones]

I have return to work after a year of mat.leave. I have been back in the office since November. I was informed by my manager that I will not be getting a bonus as I haven't been at work.
I have spoken to other mums, in different departments and they have received a bonus.
I spoke to my HR rep, who stated it is probably due to the time of year that I returned. As January is the cut off.

Is this fair?

If you were out of the workplace from Jan to November, have you received any sort of performance rating for the year?

Presuming this is a performance linked bonus of course

I think this clasifies as indirect sexual discrimination.
Have a look at acas

m.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5271

Yes my appraisal was done on my return in December.

But what were you being appraised for when you were not there?

Based on the objectives that I have reached before I left and how I have performed since my return.

You weren't there in january and you only came back in december. Before you left was the previous year and when you came back you only had a few weeks before the end of the year.

I started mat leave in Feb and returned in November. They carried through my previous end of year rating to the December after I came back as I hadn't been back long enough to be fairly appraised. My bonus was based on this rating. Does this make sense?

Basically they rated me the same two years in a row so I wasn't penalised for being on mat leave. Not sure what industry you are in, this was financial services.

Ask HR what the cut off point is in the calendar year where an employee needs to be in work to be eligible.

If you have only been at work for a max of 8 weeks (?) in this calendar year, perhaps that is below the limit of which they would pro rata a bonus. It’s certainly not a very long time frame to decide a meaningful performance rating.

What what you have said, yes you are entitled to your bonus, I recommend you to raise it, the sooner the better.

Even if you took your annual leave after maternity leave, that is considered that you have returned to work.

Either way, if they are putting it down to you being on maternity leave that's breach of contract, cause as you highlighted from the policy you are still entitled to it, if they still refuse and maintain it's you being on mat leave, I would raise this as sex discrimination.

Raise it, it's in the handbook that you should get it and could be discrimination. Email them with the extract from the staff handbook.

Thank you so much for your help and input. I really wasn't sure if it was worth speaking to H.R , but you all have been so helpful.

My HR rep is unfortunately away so will hopefully have an update next week.