Many companies “top up” an employee’s pay during maternity leave so that they still receive 100 per cent pay while on leave.
However, my employer and a number of other competitors in my sector only pay employees if they are with the company for at least one or two years before going on maternity leave, even if the employee passed their probation after six months.
Is this allowed or is there discrimination here versus longer serving employees?
There is no legal requirement for an employer to top up maternity leave payments, meaning some companies tend to attach terms and conditions to what has become a benefit in the private sector, according to those working in employment law and HR.
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Although such payments are made in the public sector, it varies between organisations elsewhere, according to Moira Grassick, chief operating officer at employment law and HR firm Peninsula Ireland.
It still remains largely uncommon within the private sector and tends to be limited to larger, multinational companies.
Noting that it is not a legal requirement, the terms and conditions outlined by the reader are not discriminatory, Grassick says, once their employer is enforcing the same terms for all employees.
“If they do give it, it’s unusual that you’d see no provisos around it, or terms and conditions,” she says.
“It’s really to try and encourage people back to work and use it as a retention and benefit tool,” she says, noting that it can be “quite a loss and quite a substantial sum that may have been paid” in the event of a worker not returning from maternity leave.
Employers can attach certain provisions to the payments, including the periods of service referenced by the reader but also around how such payments are made.
“Employers do it in different ways. Some will top up their statutory pay for a period of time. Other employers may pay 70 per cent of it and then pay the rest when they come back,” she says.
“There is no discriminatory element to that once you’re treating everyone the exact same way.”
Michelle Halloran, independent HR consultant and workplace investigator, says terms and conditions can vary significantly between private sector employers, which they are entitled to impose.
“It’s a benefit they’re choosing to give you. They have no obligation to give it to you,” she says.
Companies that provide the benefit tend to be larger multinationals where employees are more likely to be unionised, she says, noting that “heavily unionised” public sector employees receive full pay during maternity leave after a series of negotiations over the years.
Halloran believes it is unlikely the benefit will become more widespread in the private sector “any time soon”, noting it is a “big cost to employers”.
“Employers are not going to do something they just don’t have to do.”
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