Performance rating downrated after maternity leave

[Laruca]

I am after some advice regarding a downrate of my performance rating. I came back after maternity leave in September. I had the performance review with my line manager in December and he told me that I would get the top rating "exceeding contribution". After a calibration exercise from the managers above him, I have been downrated to "successful contribution". I have asked him today for the reason of this and he mentioned that it is because I have been off for 8 months of the year. Can they do this or is it maternity discrimination?

Not sure of your field but could it be that there isn’t enough to assess you on i the short time you have been back to merit the top category? Or are there now gaps in your training that you need to catch up on? Have you been meeting all your deadlines and performing optimally since having your baby?

If none of that is applicable it seems a bit unfair. Does it really matter? Is it linked to your bonus or anything?

Yes, pay review and bonus related to performance

In that case definitely get feedback

Did he put it in writing that you've been downgraded because you were on maternity leave / off work for 8 months?

If the work when you were present was of the higher standard, and the only reason you've been down graded is because you were on maternity leave then it's the very definition of maternity discrimination.

If you haven't got it in writing, get it in writing, before they come up with a better reason. Try not to set hares running before you get your evidence.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/maternity-and-parental-rights/check-your-maternity-and-parental-rights/rights-while-pregnant-or-on-maternity-leave/rights-while-youre-on-maternity-leave/#:~:text=You%20have%20a%20right%20to,you're%20on%20maternity%20 leave.

Look under the section titled pay reviews.

He has said that the downrate has been because I could have not contributed the same as others who have worked the full year, as I have been off for 8 months. Unfortunately, not in writting

Hi!

If you want to pursue this, I would suggest writing to your LM saying something along the lines that you are disappointed

I had similar after also having nine months months off. Except mine was rated 'needs improvement' (which I have never had before). My bonus and pay are also linked to it so I assume it means no bonus. I did contest it but HR said that I will be graded on what accounts I brought in pro rata for that year. My appraisal actually states in the comments that it is because I was on maternity leave and failed my financial targets on a pro rata basis. My understanding is if I had taken the year then I would have been graded neutral/good. However because I was there for three months, I was graded pro rata on this, even though it was a month at the beginning of the year when I was basically handing things over, and the two months when I came back when I was trying to build up business again from scratch. Feels unfair.

I'll be watching this for any advice

Sorry! Posted too soon!

If you want to pursue this, I would suggest writing to your LM and ideally copy in HR stating that you would like to have a conversation regarding your rating, given the feedback that the rating was related to your maternity leave and did not fairly reflect the work completed in the time you were physically present.

There are a couple of things to consider (not necessarily right or fair but worth considering)

LMs should not tell you a rating prior to calibration. It is always subject to internal calibration and until formalised, is a proposal.

As mentioned above, it's likely that the reasoning will be expanded beyond your absence.

From a legal perspective, there is very little protection here. It's unfair and arguably discriminatory (but this is difficult to prove) and would require a stressful process. I definitely think you should raise it, but would ask you to be clear what you want from it as an outcome before you go ahead.

Hope this helps but let me know if you need more info.

I would email manager with notes/minutes of the meeting, including that he said you would be downgraded because you were out for 8 months on mat leave.

You want contemporaneous notes that he said this.

My line manager has suggested I email his line manager to request clarification on the downrating, so I will do so

Did you see there's a thread on MN offering free legal advice around maternity and work issues https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/work/5290351-mnhq-here-post-your-pregnancy-maternity-work-questions-here-for-free-legal-advice-from-maternity-action

Unfortunately that isn't quite the same thing as saying that you had been on maternity leave. If there is a mediation of scoring for anyone who has not been in work for a full 12 months, then you have not been discriminated against. The same would apply then to someone who only joined part way through the year or had been off sick. So what you need to know is not why you have been marked down, but the criteria for marking down. If everyone is in the same boat, then discrimination hasn't occured.

According to the link that has been posted above, I need to be assessed based on the period I have been actually been at work, so not in comparison of what others have achieved in 12 months. I have now emailed the managers above my line manager and let's see what the explanation is

You do, but it's also a bit of a grey area as it can be difficult to truly and fairly assess given the differences in time worked. It's very hard to prove discrimination in this space. And very easy for a business to outline why peers delivered more relative to the time worked.

Not exactly. That isn't what it says. It says:
You have a right to any pay review you’d normally have. For example, if you get a pay review every March, you should still get this while you’re on maternity leave.
If your pay review involves rating your performance, your employer has to base this on the time you were at work. They can’t say your performance was worse just because you’re on maternity leave.

Note the bit that I underlined. They can't say that your performance is worse JUST BECAUSE you're on maternity leave. But they can say that grades will be moderated based on working time over the year for everyone. So if somebody was off sick for six months, if somebody didn't start in the role until four months into the year... etc., etc..... then the reason isn't "just because" of materniety leave. It is because you, like many others, weren't working for part of the year. So you need the criteria that is being applied. Those should be in writing so easy to tell which it is.

Ok, so a bit more information... only up to 25% of the employees in the business can have the top rating. Before the calibration, the percentage of employees with the top rating was slightly over the 25% limit, so they had to choose a few people to downrate (I think two or three in my department). And one of them is me. I have not been told my contribution is worse because of maternity leave. I have been told I have contributed less in comparison to other colleagues who have worked the full year

Dodgy, but I think it's a really grey area because if two or three people have all been downgraded, unless they are all also on maternity leave then it is going to be difficult to prove - and if they were downgraded for similar reasons but not maternity related, nigh on impossible.

I guess my question would be, how important is this to you? Because you could fight it, you can argue you've been discriminated against - but at what cost to you? The reason (that you haven't contributed as much as people who have been there all year) is fair enough - I am not saying it is right, simply that you might feel the same in different circumstances, if you got downgraded after slogging away for a year, when someone else only did 4 months. So would challenging this be worth it - and how far would you be willing to take it. Because the minute you suggest your employer has discriminated against you, that has consequences. I know because I have been there. I didn't care, but it was simpler for me to decide that than it might be for you.

I faced something similar. I told them I wasn’t prepared to be downgraded on the basis of my absence on maternity leave. Acceptable options were to retain my previous ranking and specify that it was pre leave ranking and/ or specify that I hadn’t been graded in respect of x period as absent on maternity leave.

They agreed with me on reflection 😁

My line manager's line manager has scheduled a meeting tomorrow to discuss this... let's see what he says

Well if nothing else, it may tell you how much you are valued.... having a set 25% only, ever, not to be changed, ever etc etc isn't exactly real rewarding effort. That's just a lottery with statistics.

What was your performance rating prior to going on maternity leave?

Exceeding contribution (top rate) before going on maternity leave

I have had the meeting with my line manager's line manager and he has said the same. They had to choose someone to downgrade and my name came up because I had been off 8 months of the year

That sounds like it could be discrimination. Did you mention anything about that in the meeting ?

Follow up the meeting and ask directly “ You said the reason for my rating being downgraded is because I was off on maternity leave?”

If I have misunderstood please correct me.”