My employer cuts maternity top-up payments by half after three months. Is the norm not six months of full pay?
I’m working for my company for over four years now. I noticed the maternity policy covers three months of maternity benefit top-ups to match my full pay. After this, the top-ups are reduced by half for three months. Having carried out some minimal research through friends and family, the ‘norm’ maternity policy offers six months of full pay in Ireland. I understand the statutory requirement in Ireland is 26 weeks, but this doesn’t specify that it should be full or half pay. I should also mention that the HR team of my employer is based in the UK . Can I please request any advice on this topic and how best to approach this with the HR team? Should the reader approach their HR team about their maternity top-up payments, it is important to remember they are an “added perk” and not a statutory requirement. That is according to Moira Grassick, chief operating officer at employment law and HR firm Peninsula Ireland, who says there is an important distinction to be made between the State maternity benefit and any additional top-ups that an employer may provide. Although full top-up payments are common in the public sector, meaning employees receive their full salary during maternity leave, employers are not legally obligated to provide maternity pay for their employees, Grassick says. This means the “norm” may vary significantly in the private sector, depending on the industry you work in and the size of the business, she says. “If a business has opted to provide a top-up payment for the duration of your maternity leave, or even for a period of that time, this would be considered an additional benefit rather than a statutory requirement,” she says. Is it discriminatory to only pay maternity top-ups after a certain period of service? “Employees in Ireland are, however, entitled to 26 weeks of maternity benefit, which is paid directly by the State.” Maternity benefit is set at a rate of €299 per week, regardless of the employee’s normal rate of pay. To qualify, employees must have sufficient PRSI contributions and be in insurable employment up until the first day of their maternity leave. Given there is no legal requirement for top-up payments, some companies tend to attach terms and conditions where such benefits are offered. For example, these can include a requirement to have been employed for a certain period before being eligible. Employers can also attach a condition that top-up payments can be clawed back if employees leave the organisation within a certain time frame of returning. In the reader’s case, Grassick says it sounds like the employer has a “clear maternity leave policy in place and that they have opted to provide maternity benefit top-ups for 26 weeks”. “If the employee wishes to discuss their entitlements with HR, it’s important to remember that these top-ups are an added perk,” she says. While the business’s HR department is based in the UK, the reader appears to be employed in Ireland, Grassick notes. “As such, their employer is bound by Irish employment legislation, and the HR team should be equipped to handle queries or concerns from Irish employees,” she says. If you have work-related questions, from how to deal with burnout to running your own business, The Irish Times Work Q&A column is here to help. You can use the form below to submit your question. Please limit your submissions to 400 words or fewer and include a phone number. Your name and contact details will be confidential and only be used for verification purposes. Any details about your employer will also be anonymised.