Mat leave and raises

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Rathji

Of course it is a penalty.

Everyone else who performed to a certain level got a raise of a certain amount, anyone who doesn't get that raise, who also performed to that level is penalized.

So a company that does't give annual raises is penalizing thier employees every year?

[Table 5]

How you view this argument probably depends on which side of the employee/employer fence you stand on..

I know that before I started my company, I was pretty clueless to a lot of the true costs and pitfalls one has to face as the owner/bossman. These days I find myself being much more sympathetic to the employer side of the equation, and I think a lot of people would too if they were dealing with the same question from the boss's viewpoint. Your opinion changes pretty quickly when you are the one having to write the checks.

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by Sliver

That's pretty nice of them to give you a raise while you were away. As an employer I can tell you I wouldn't dream of doing that.

I said I didn't get any raises.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by Table 5

How you view this argument probably depends on which side of the employee/employer fence you stand on..

I know that before I started my company, I was pretty clueless to a lot of the true costs and pitfalls one has to face as the owner/bossman. These days I find myself being much more sympathetic to the employer side of the equation, and I think a lot of people would too if they were dealing with the same question from the boss's viewpoint. Your opinion changes pretty quickly when you are the one having to write the checks.

Excellent comment - I'm the same way - until you have lived through the daily cash flow challenges of being responsible for a business you can't really appreciate how something like giving a raise to someone who has been on maternity leave can make a huge difference.

When I was running a business every cost had to be carefully assessed - because things were THAT tight.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Peanut

I said I didn't get any raises.

You did get a bonus - I wrote raise by mistake. My bad!

[Peanut]

Originally Posted by Table 5

How you view this argument probably depends on which side of the employee/employer fence you stand on..

I know that before I started my company, I was pretty clueless to a lot of the true costs and pitfalls one has to face as the owner/bossman. These days I find myself being much more sympathetic to the employer side of the equation, and I think a lot of people would too if they were dealing with the same question from the boss's viewpoint. Your opinion changes pretty quickly when you are the one having to write the checks.

I think it depends on the size of the company a little bit, though. It's not like the bottom line at Exxon (for example) is really being undermined by them giving a 2% cost-of-living raise to all the women who might happen to have just returned from mat leave.

[gildo]

This is a tough call & I am probably going to repeat a lot of stuff that has already been mentioned but I have been through this twice with my wife and I have been working in Human Resources for about 10 years. Every company is different ultimately it is the companies call, unless otherwise stated in there Policies and Procedures. We recently had an unexpected positive fiscal year and we gave staff a 3% raise, now we had two ladies that were on maternity leave, instead of giving them a raise we gave them a bonus (companies decision). You have to remember when you are away on sick leave, mat leave etc. you are technically categorized as an "inactive employee", not that you're not valued but you're just not there contributing day to day during that time. It's kind of like when a major decison is made while you're on holidays you feel choked when you come back but when you're not techinically in the office life goes on.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by fotze

And the slovak guy, table5 being mysoginistic, shocker!

I'm not sure what's more insulting, being called misogynistic, or being called Slovak.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by fotze

Yes for the work she did do. They sure as fata wouldn't give her one for the time off. So if she worked 11 months of the period that bonuses are given for, she shouldn't get one?

Yes, she probably should get one and I would likely still give it to her if and when she came back to work for me after her mat leave was over. I just wouldn't be cutting her a cheque during the middle of her year off.

It's the same to me as if an employee quit 11 months after their last bonus. Would I give them 11/12ths of their accrued bonus on their way out the door? Nope. The only difference is if the employee came back after her mat leave and was working for me I think there would be an obligation to pay her the last bonus or at least a portion of it.

[GGG]

In my opinion you should be entitled to 1 of the raises. She put in the work for a full year even though it was broken up over the course of two.

If I were in here position I would ask to see the specific wording of the HR policy that says you have to be working for six months before getting a raise. If the policy says she must have been an employee for six months then she should be entitled to a raise as you remain an employee while on Mat leave. If the policy says active emloyee she might not have a chance.

My overall paternity leave opinion is that taking a year off should cost you a year of seniority and any bonus's and raises during that year as obviously for that year you haven't gained any experience in the past year and likely regressed a bit. However in the above case it appears that the person is being penalized for 2 years which to me is not right.

[Starfishy]

I think most employers are reasonable. I am sure that if she expresses how upset she is that if she had her baby a couple weeks later that she would have received her raise.

I am not sure if the company policy really matters if she explains the situation.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Starfishy

I think most employers are reasonable. I am sure that if she expresses how upset she is that if she had her baby a couple weeks later that she would have received her raise.

I am not sure if the company policy really matters if she explains the situation.

Well she spoke with her immediate boss, and it seems like he is going to see about getting her the one raise we feel she is owed. The problem with company policy is that it makes all raises need to follow strict rules, so it would be easy for someone to say no and hide behind policy. Given the response she got from the supervisor when she talked to him last week, I feel she will probably get it.

Thanks all.

[yads]

Legally they're not required to give her a raise. Your wife should have worked this out with her employer before going on mat leave considering the review was supposed to happen around what I presume was the due date. My wife was in a similar position and worked out with her manager that she would be getting a raise when she came back from mat leave.

[DuffMan]

you guys either should've planned her pregnancy better, around her raises, or she should get a union job, where I don't think it matters. Raises for everyone.