Q&As

Is it discriminatory in all cases not to pay a bonus to a female employee who is on maternity leave? For example, what is the position in relation to a bonus awarded on the basis of team (as opposed to individual) performance?

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Published by a LexisNexis Employment expert
Published on: 06 January 2020
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You may wish to consider:

  1. •

    whether the bonus falls within ‘terms and conditions about Remuneration’

  2. •

    the effect of the maternity equality clause, and

  3. •

    the non-contractual payments exception

A woman absent on Maternity leave is in a unique position, which requires her to be afforded special protection, but which is not comparable with that of a man actually at work. A woman on maternity leave is not therefore entitled to full pay, despite the principle of Equal Pay under Article 157 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

An employee who takes ordinary or additional maternity leave is entitled to the benefit of all the terms and conditions of employment that would have applied had she not been absent, except ‘terms and conditions about remuneration’.

‘Terms and conditions of employment’ are defined to cover matters

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Related legal acts:
Key definition:
Maternity leave definition
What does Maternity leave mean?

A woman's right to take maternity leave prior to and after the birth of the child. There are three types: ordinary maternity leave (lasts up to 26 weeks); additional maternity leave (starts on the day after the last day of ordinary maternity leave and lasts up to 26 weeks); and compulsory maternity leave (two to four weeks).

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