# How do Companies deal Maternity Payment? "Dont Pay" or "Pay and Deduct MB"?



## Rocky4 (23 Aug 2006)

Does anyone know what is the general way companies deal with maternity payment?

Do the majority not pay you and you just get the state weekly payment; Or do some pay you and deduct the state payment from your wages ?


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## ClubMan (23 Aug 2006)

*Re: Maternity Payment*

I'm not sure that there's a norm here. It all depends on the contract of employment.


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## huskerdu (23 Aug 2006)

*Re: Maternity Payment*

There does not seem to be an "norm" in this area.

It really depends on the attitude of the individual company towards staff retention and being generous with benefits. 

In an unscientifc straw poll of people who fall into the category of " people I know working in the private sector", less than 50% got any top up from their employer.


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## AJC (24 Aug 2006)

Rocky4 said:


> Does anyone know what is the general way companies deal with maternity payment?
> 
> Do the majority not pay you and you just get the state weekly payment; Or do some pay you and deduct the state payment from your wages ?


 
Mrs AJC's company continues to pay her full salary throughout. She also receives the social welfare benefit paid into her bank a/c. When she returns to work she repays the social welfare received back to the company. 

She then can claim back from the revenue for the tax deducted by the company on the social welfare payment. [As her total salary was taxed as normal while on maternity leave, and state maternity benefit is not subject to tax]


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## Towger (25 Aug 2006)

Rocky4 said:


> Does anyone know what is the general way companies deal with maternity payment?


 
It is up to the company and the type of business they are in. By law they don't have to give any money. 

Generally it can be broken down into two types.

Weekly paid, low skilled, manual work, small company etc. Give nothing and the employee is very happy to get a refund of tax (unused credits) when they return to work.

Monthly Paid, high skilled, office work/professional or large company (financial) etc. Pay their Gross Salary less maternity. This saves the hassle of refunding and claiming back tax, which another user's wife had to do. Note: the employee is slightly better off as they are not paying taxes on their maternity benefit.

There are also a few companies of the second type who pay full salary and allow the employee to keep the maternity benefit, but I have also become aware of companies, who due to the new extended maternity leave have _tried_ to change their policy of paying employees.

Towger


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## Towger (25 Aug 2006)

AJC said:


> [As her total salary was taxed as normal while on maternity leave, and state maternity benefit is not subject to tax]


 
Don't forget to reclaim her PRSI as well. Can be easer said than done... 
How does her employer get their employers PRSI back, without fiddling their payroll? Very messy, is she semi state, teacher etc

Towger.


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## AJC (25 Aug 2006)

Towger said:


> Don't forget to reclaim her PRSI as well. Can be easer said than done...
> How does her employer get their employers PRSI back, without fiddling their payroll? Very messy, is she semi state, teacher etc
> 
> Towger.


 
Hmmm. Didn't realise you could get the PRSI back. Any ideas on how to go about this ?

She works in a large MNC


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## ClubMan (25 Aug 2006)

Write to 

PRSI Refunds section
Collector General
Revenue Commissioners
Sarsfield House
Francis Street
Limerick

explaining the situation and including any supporting documentation and see what they say.


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## Towger (25 Aug 2006)

AJC said:


> Hmmm. Didn't realise you could get the PRSI back. Any ideas on how to go about this ?
> 
> She works in a large MNC


 
You don’t pay PRSI on PRSI repayments.

To get a refund write to the Refunds Section, as above. For the last couple of years I have found that it takes two letters to get a response out of them. eg after waiting six months send, another letter stating you have had no response to you first letter, which you attach photocopy of etc. After a week or two you should get a cheque for 'PRSI Refund' and no calculations on how they derived the figure.

I think her MNC needs a new payroll person. It is much easer to add a gross deduction for maternity benefit to the payroll, so she sees her original salary less a deduction for the maternity pay. The only messy part is converting weekly payments to their monthly value. It would be less work for her (or you  ) and for their accounts staff, in trying to balance the books after getting a cheque back. If they are really bad they are probably not reducing their employer PRSI payments. You should watch for this on her Payslips, or if not printed, on her P60 . It is 10.75% (assuming she is on a half decent wage!) of her taxable pay. ie  salary less pension etc.

I have been told it is next to impossible for an employer to get excess PRSI payments back!!

Towger


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## ClubMan (25 Aug 2006)

For what it's worth - after an initial delay of months while they sorted out the _PRSI _refunds procedures for off payroll pension contributions - I have always found the _PRSI _refunds section to be quite responsive. I recently queried the details of some _PRSI _refunds that I got early last year and they promptly sent a detailed letter explaining exactly how the figures were arrived at. Of course it would have helped if they had included these at the time of the refund but there you go.


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## Snork Maiden (26 Aug 2006)

Topping up employees salary/wages when she is on maternity leave is totally at the discretion of the company.  However, Employers can not be selective.  If they provide a top up for one employee than they must for all employees........they can not discriminate

Generally speaking the public sector top up (even though they are not obliged to - public em/ees often assume they are automatically entitled to it) larger Private sector companies may for senior staff (get aware with this through clause in contracts) smaller SME's often can not afford the top up.  Personally I think that the state should assist more maybe through some tax break for SMEs who then can afford to pass on the benefit to their staff......but thats another tread!!!


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## ClubMan (27 Aug 2006)

Snork Maiden said:


> Topping up employees salary/wages when she is on maternity leave is totally at the discretion of the company.  However, Employers can not be selective.  If they provide a top up for one employee than they must for all employees........they can not discriminate


Is that true? I thought that it was a contractual issue between each individual employee and their employer.


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## ajapale (27 Aug 2006)

The company I work for provides top up payments for some categories of employee while it does not for other categories. This distinction is outlined in the employees Contract of Employment.

I know of a small number of cases where a woman was granted top up payments even though this was not in her T&C's. The reality was that the company valued the employee and wanted to hold on to her. Incidently she was also allowed hold onto her company car even for the period of unpaid leave.

aj


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