pros & cons of raising a grievance at work

[BetsyBoop]

I think my employer is in breach of contract as they are refusing to pay my contractual maternity pay. I've double & triple checked our T&Cs and I'm 99.9% sure I'm right that I qualify.

The main reason behind this is that they recently offshored the HR function to India & they really don't seem to understand our T&Cs (I'm under TUPE, so the T&Cs are different to the company's normal ones)

I'm trying to resolve this amicably, but getting nowhere fast (I actually started my m/l a week ago....they were first notified of my m/l dates on 28/6....)

The next option seems to be for me to raise a formal grievance, which I could well do without in late pregnancy

Just wondering what the pros & cons are of going down the formal route - I'm worried it mught be held against me in the future.

Betsy do you want to email your T&Cs to me to quadruple check? Flowery dot beanbag at ntlworld dot com

Will have a think about your query as well in the meantime

I would say go ahead
They are in the wrong
The grievance thing is quite straightforward but you may need to hassle them
If you don't get anywhere then you can take them to tribunal

My employer changed the ML policy after I had notified them so I would get less $$$

Thinking about pros and cons
Pros
it's a financial thing so if you don't you will lose money you are entitled to
It sounds as though a grievance for something like this would be relatively straightforward. It would just be a case of pointing to the relevant bit in your T&Cs, none of the 'he said she said' which can make grievances so painful
We can all help you

Cons
Grievance can be stressful
Might take a while to resolve it
You may be seen as a bit of a troublemaker- how important that is depends on what relationship you have with your boss I would say, as well as how long you intend staying there. If it's HR who see you as a troublemaker, don't worry about it.

Can't think of anything else at the moment.

thanks Flowery

have just emailed you - but you are probably tucked up in bed already

Hi Betsy, have emailed you, didn't get the attachment I'm afraid.

grievance- and get your union rep involved, if you are not in the union join.and do it soon as there are time limits

BetsyBoop - this is the Revenue and Customs maternity pay calculator. It's aimed at employers, but no reason why you shouldn't use it to calculate your SMP, i.e. the least they should pay you. You should cjeck this first, just to make sure you were being paid during the qualifying weeks.
Good luck.

Pants - try this Calc link at the bottom.

Flowery - thank have emailed you again

Waynetta - thanks but I'm not talking about SMP, it's my contractual maternity pay that I have the problem with

I agree with Flowerybeanbag's points. The bottom line is that raising a formal grievance is a pain and it's stressful and it's the last thing you want to do when you're about to have a baby BUT, if your employer is trying to do you out of contractual rights that you're entitled to then you don't really have any other choice.

Do you have a union where you work? Or a staff association? It might be good to get some support from a union rep or someone. That can take some of the stress out of raising the grievanace yourself. Or as Flowery says, you can always get help from MNers who've got experience in these things.

If you're covered by TUPE and you know what you're entitled to under your TUPE'd T&Cs then the grievance should be pretty straightforward and it should be resolved quickly. They can't really accuse you of being a trouble maker if you're just asking for what you're entitled to...as long as you're not aggressive or confrontational about it.

Let us know what happens.

Have emailed you back Betsy. Can't see any reason why you shouldn't get your pay. Do a scary- sounding formal letter as I've outlined in my email, and then a formal grievance if your payday goes by without anything.
If you don't receive maternity pay or similar which you are entitled to under your contract this counts as an unlawful deduction of wages.

just mailed you back Flowery, thanks for all your help, you're a star

thanks to everyone else for their support

Flowery

You won't be suprised to hear I've heard nothing further from my employer....

Have just emailed you a copy of my "scary formal letter" for your perusal

THANK YOU again for all your help

at hearing nothing...

Have seen email, will have a look through today and get back to you later

Hi Betsy, have emailed you slightly amended version of your letter.

For the benefit of anyone else who is interested and reading this, just a tip about grievances. If you need to bring a grievance I would always recommend assuming it is going to be read by someone who has no knowledge or involvement. I would always attached as appendices any relevant correspondence, and give a timeline of events as well, so that there is no need for anyone to go digging for copies of things or try and sit down and work out who wrote what when. That way there are also no excuses for being slow dealing with it and no chance of confusion or not understanding what is being said.
It means a lot of duplicate paperwork but it makes it easy to read and understand for anyone who might see it. Grievances may well end up being heard either initially or at appeal by someone who has no knowledge at all of what's been happening.

thanks again Flowery for all your help

just wanted to say another big thank you to Flowery

got an email from HR via my boss today confirming that they will pay my 18wks contractual mat pay from 3/9/07 - hurrah!

I'm sure the speedy response was down to the excellent grievance letter you helped me with.

Too late for my normal pay day on the 21st (as we knew) but they are making a payment on their next BACS run. so I should have it some time next week.

Hurrah!