New mothers are missing out on thousands of pounds in wages and left without money for weeks due to their employers’ failures during maternity leave, according to a parental leave group.
Employees on parental or adoption leave can work up to ten days during their time off, according to government guidelines. These so-called Keeping In Touch (Kit) days allow employees to maintain contact with colleagues, stay informed of changes at work and benefit from a smoother return to work after a long period of absence.
They also offer new parents the opportunity to earn money at a time when their income will have dropped significantly.
But online platform Nugget Savings says there is ‘lawlessness’ in the way Kit Days are being run by some companies. It says employers ‘have all the control and power with Kit days, can decide whether employees can have them and what they get paid for them, potentially leaving women feeling devalued’.
It says: ‘Every time we post about Kit Days we get dozens of comments and messages from women in the NHS, in law firms and small businesses, who say the lack of legislation in this area leaves them confused and are losing competition. money.’
Ungrateful: payment for so-called Keeping In Touch days is much less regulated than maternity benefits
According to government guidelines, Kit days are optional and must be agreed to by both employee and employer. They stipulate that an agreement must be reached on the type of work and compensation employees will receive before starting work. The employee’s right to maternity or adoption leave and wages are not affected by taking Kit days.
Katie Guild, co-founder of Nugget Savings, says: ‘If pay isn’t pre-agreed before going on leave, it’s another thing women need to think about during their maternity leave. It can make women feel uncomfortable and unsure where they stand with their employer. We know women who had not agreed on their rate for Kit days before taking them, who have traveled to and from work and incurred high commuting costs, only to find out that they have to pay a minimum wage for their work received, well below their normal rate, and therefore have seen no financial benefit for the days worked.
“In one case, a law firm partner was not paid for her Kit days because as a partner she is technically self-employed.”
Alice*, who works in publishing, was furious after working three KIT days in the first three months of her maternity leave and receiving nothing due to her employer’s no-pay rule during this period.
“I was shocked, primarily because I had checked the company policy beforehand and discussed Kit days with my line manager,” says Alice. ‘I had assumed it would be paid, but the company policy turned out to be woolly and confusingly written.
‘It was also a rude awakening to discover that the law allows companies to set their own rules.
‘I felt cheated when I had done the work. And it had a major impact on my budgeting – in this climate you count every cent. It just added to my lack of sleep.”
Employees must be paid at least the minimum wage for Kit days. There is no legal obligation for employers to pay more. That means some could receive a fraction of their usual salary.
For example, someone with an average salary of £33,000 per year, which equates to £126.50 per day, could earn £72.94 if paid the national minimum wage.
Another mother, Emma*, was shocked to learn that her employer, a major investment bank, would pay her for Kit days, but not until she returned to work some four months later.
This is contrary to official guidance which states that payment for Kit days should be made in the usual way, in the payroll for the week or month worked.
“I didn’t bother working Kit days in the end. I weighed it up and realized I’d rather spend time with my baby. But I lost £1,700 as a result,” she says.
Emma thought she had fully understood Kit, days after pre-maternity leave group Zoom meetings with HR and receiving an email with all the policy details.
‘The email is pages long, general and on closer inspection opaque. It wasn’t until I had my baby that I was able to fully reflect on my Kit days. I actually accidentally heard about a delayed payment through a colleague who was also on leave.’
Emma knows several colleagues who have not used Kit days for the same reason and say: ‘It’s an absolute deterrent. They should encourage you to come back to the office, right? I have a complex role. I had to get comfortable again and get back up to speed. Going straight back in was overwhelming.”
Both women asked to remain anonymous because they fear they will be labeled as difficult employees if they raise the issue at work.
However, in Alice’s case, the minimum wage was not even guaranteed for the Kit days she worked during the first three months of her maternity leave, as she received full wages.
‘I was told I wouldn’t get anything because the policy is just to ‘top up’ whatever you get up to full pay. So if you get half the pay, you get half. If you don’t get anything, you get a full day’s wages,” she says.
Nugget Savings says it has heard from many women about their bad experiences with Kit Days and says employers benefit from them, while women don’t necessarily get value from attending them.
Harriet Morton-Liddle, the other co-founder of Nugget Savings, added: ‘It undermines the point of Kit Days. We know that 85 percent of women leave their full-time jobs within three years of having a child. A large part of this is the cost of childcare. But we’ve heard from many women who feel let down by their employers during maternity leave.
“Some don’t hear from them all the time, only to find that half their team has already left. This contributes to the feeling of being irrelevant and undervalued. The low payment for Kit days can further underline this message.’
Jonothan Scollen, a lawyer at employment law firm Howarths, says it is unlawful for an employer to disadvantage employees because they have worked a Kit day.
He adds: ‘It could give rise to a pregnancy discrimination claim if the only reason the employer delayed payment was because it was a Kit day or because the employee was on maternity leave. It is also highly likely that employers would open themselves up to complaints if this were standard practice, unless there were clear and objective reasons why Kit salary payments were delayed, such as cash flow management.”
He adds that it is legally unknown whether paying less for a Kit Day could violate equal pay laws, as this has not been addressed in any reported case law.
“I could see an argument that a woman on a Kit Day, doing the same work as a male colleague, should be paid equally,” he says. ‘It can also give rise to claims, so the legal risks of paying an employee much less for working on a Kit day could be significant.’
* Names have been changed
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