Employer refusing full maternity

B

Babooshka

Registered User
Messages
24
Is an employer (who owns the company) entitled to tell staff they may only take 4 months maternity leave when the entitlement is for 26 weeks? What comeback would you have?

Also, what do people do when the employer will not pay the top up? My friend is in this situation and will not survive on the benefit payment, she is at wits end and may lose her home as cannot keep up mortgage payments.
 
no he isnt allowed to tell her she can only take 4 months. she is entitled to 26 weeks and he cannot stop her taking it or she can sue him she can also take a furhter 16 weeks unpaid leave as well if she wants but she will not get any money from social welfare if she takes this. no employer has to pay their employee when on maternity leave. usually only government jobs do this unless there is a policy in place. for the 26 weeks she will only get social welfare the employer doesnt have to top it up.
 
Babooshka said:
what do people do when the employer will not pay the top up? My friend is in this situation and will not survive on the benefit payment, she is at wits end and may lose her home as cannot keep up mortgage payments.
Click to expand...

The employer is not obliged to top up anyone's wages while they are on maternity leave. Would she qualify for family income supplement after the child is born?
 
Babooshka said:
she is at wits end and may lose her home as cannot keep up mortgage payments.
Click to expand...

Maybe she should look into a mortgage payment holiday to help her out while she is off (usually 3 months) thats what i plan on doing when taking unpaid leave. Or else talk to bank and switch to interest only for a while. Perhaps her employer is willing to pay the top up for 4 months only? She should also remember that she will be entitled to child benefit and early childhood supplement once the baby is born - not a huge amount but it all adds up.
 
Babooshka said:
Is an employer (who owns the company) entitled to tell staff they may only take 4 months maternity leave when the entitlement is for 26 weeks? What comeback would you have?

Also, what do people do when the employer will not pay the top up? My friend is in this situation and will not survive on the benefit payment, she is at wits end and may lose her home as cannot keep up mortgage payments.
Click to expand...

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/c...olidays/maternity_leave/?searchterm=maternity

Get it in writing that they wont give the 26 weeks. Then go from there, all the talk is worth nothing without having it in writing, then you have real options, like showing it to your solicitor - they would be very happy to take such a case.
 
Last edited:
Maybe it's a case of misunderstanding on the employer's part or a communications breakdown between employer and employee rather than anything necessarily nefarious? First step should probably be to collect the facts relating to statutory entitlements (e.g. above) and then discuss them calmly and reasonably with the employer - rather than running off to a solicitor or whatever in the first instance.

As pointed out above salary payment during maternity leave is a contractual matter between employee and employer.
 
sandrat said:
Maybe she should look into a mortgage payment holiday to help her out while she is off (usually 3 months) thats what i plan on doing when taking unpaid leave. Or else talk to bank and switch to interest only for a while. Perhaps her employer is willing to pay the top up for 4 months only? She should also remember that she will be entitled to child benefit and early childhood supplement once the baby is born - not a huge amount but it all adds up.
Click to expand...

At a max its 3092 for the year.
 
ClubMan said:
Maybe it's a case of misunderstanding on the employer's part or a communications breakdown between employer and employee rather than anything necessarily nefarious?
Click to expand...

I'd be inclined to agree - Might it be that they will pay top-up for 4 months only? That would be a fairly common arrangement.
 
Mel said:
I'd be inclined to agree - Might it be that they will pay top-up for 4 months only? That would be a fairly common arrangement.
Click to expand...
Actually I was not referring to the issue of salary during maternity leave other than to say that there is no statutory entitlement to this. It is not unusual for employers NOT to pay anything. As mentioned above this is purely a contractual matter. The other issue of statutory maternity leave entitlements is the one that I was concentrating on.
 
ClubMan said:
Actually I was not referring to the issue of salary during maternity leave other than to say that there is no statutory entitlement to this. It is not unusual for employers NOT to pay anything.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, but the fact that they seem to be allowing 4 months maternity leave indicated to me that that is where there might be a misunderstanding.

As for the plain english... http://www.plainenglish.co.uk/
 
Babooshka said:
Is an employer (who owns the company) entitled to tell staff they may only take 4 months maternity leave when the entitlement is for 26 weeks? What comeback would you have?

Also, what do people do when the employer will not pay the top up? My friend is in this situation and will not survive on the benefit payment, she is at wits end and may lose her home as cannot keep up mortgage payments.
Click to expand...
If she is at her wits end about the financial cost of being off for 6 months, she could soften this somewhat AND keep her employer happy by only taking 4 months leave. She might even be able to negotiate a partial top-up in return for taking a shorter-than-statutory maternity leave. 14 weeks + optional unpaid 4 weeks was the standard leave until a few years ago and babies and parents survived - and certainly if repossession is the alterative this should be seriously considered.
 
sandrat said:
she will also get up to 280 a week maternity benefit.
Click to expand...
We don't know for sure that she qualifies for the maximum MB payment. Besides I doubt that there are too many mortgagees who could service their loan and living expenses on MB, CB and ECS payments alone!
 
orka said:
If she is at her wits end about the financial cost of being off for 6 months, she could soften this somewhat AND keep her employer happy by only taking 4 months leave. She might even be able to negotiate a partial top-up in return for taking a shorter-than-statutory maternity leave. 14 weeks + optional unpaid 4 weeks was the standard leave until a few years ago and babies and parents survived - and certainly if repossession is the alterative this should be seriously considered.
Click to expand...
Another option after the birth might be unpaid Parental Leave taken after consultation/agreement with her employer? See www.citizensinformation.ie for more info.
 
ClubMan said:
We don't know for sure that she qualifies for the maximum MB payment. Besides I doubt that there are too many mortgagees who could service their loan and living expenses on MB, CB and ECS payments alone!
Click to expand...

Thats why i said up to 280 per week.

Also I suggested taking payment holidays on loans.

As another poster suggested she does not have to take the full 26 weeks if she can't afford it. You only have to take 2 weeks before baby is due and 4 weeks after.
Maybe she should have looked into the details in her contract/ company policy before getting pregnant if she is going to lose her house over it?
 
sandrat said:
Thats why i said up to 280 per week.
Click to expand...
Sorry - missed that! :eek:
Also I suggested taking payment holidays on loans.

As another poster suggested she does not have to take the full 26 weeks if she can't afford it. You only have to take 2 weeks before baby is due and 4 weeks after.
Maybe she should have looked into the details in her contract/ company policy before getting pregnant if she is going to lose her house over it?
Click to expand...
All fair points in my opinion.
 
Do creches take babies at only 4 weeks? 4 weeks is not a lot of time for bonding. This is more important than any house. In my personal opinion I wouldn't consider that healthy for mother, baby or society and can't believe anyone would suggest it.
 
All I was saying was she is not forced to take all the leave so she cannot complain that she can't afford it if she intends on taking all the leave. My mother had to go back to work when my sister was 4 weeks old because of the length of maternity leave 28 years ago and my sister being quite overdue! I didn't suggest she goes back to work then. I actually suggested she take a mortgage holiday for 3 months. Maybe she could go back to work when this is over and the baby is 3 months?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top