Fulltime permanent position in a Third Level College. Maternity and "top up" payments

Re: Fulltime permanent position in a Third Level College. Maternity and "top up" paym


That 6 weeks bit is a recent 2006 Amendment which I hadn't read before. http://www.equality.ie/index.asp?locID=106&docID=540 Anyway anything other than that, ie one or two days a week or a month, only "If your employer agrees". In practical terms a lot of people can't afford to take 6 weeks or longer off in go. Whereas they might be able to afford one day a week etc. Its something to conisder. Also its easier to take directly after your maternity leave, trying to take it later can be difficult, because you have childcare arranged etc. Something to think about.
 
Re: Fulltime permanent position in a Third Level College. Maternity and "top up" paym

But they can never abrogate your statutory rights no matter what they put in the contract as far as I know.
No, but they can request that you sign up to T&Cs which don't breach your statutory rights. Confidentiality or non-compete clauses would be an example, although they wouldn't really apply here.
Is that actually legal? What is the supposed penaltu for them failing to continue to meet this condition? I can't imagine that this is enforceable. Unenforceable clauses in contracts are not unusual (e.g. most non-compete clauses are for all intents and purposes unenforceable).
I suspect that that's the case here, too — it hasn't been put to the test, afaik. I have no written contract other than my (fairly summary) job description, as advertised at the time, and the subsequent formal letter of offer which specifies my point of entry on the salary scale. Newer appointees' contracts specify minimum numbers of teaching contact hours and a range of additional supervisory/administrative duties. Mine are a matter of negotiation, 'custom and practice' and a sense of mutual fairness. There hasn't been a problem yet, but if that were to change one day I think I'd be glad to have a more minimal contract than the one currently being offered to new appointments. But this is getting a little off-topic... :eek:
 
Re: Fulltime permanent position in a Third Level College. Maternity and "top up" paym

No, but they can request that you sign up to T&Cs which don't breach your statutory rights. Confidentiality or non-compete clauses would be an example, although they wouldn't really apply here.
A non compete clause is generally unenforceable in Ireland as far as I know. At least that's the legal advice I got on it a few years back. Note that I am not talking about stealing intellectual property or anything like that here. Basically a former employer cannot prevent you from earning a living even if this means you working for a competitor.
Mine are a matter of negotiation, 'custom and practice' and a sense of mutual fairness.
All well and good if you and your employer are fair. But the latter doesn't seem to apply in Margie's case since her employer led her to believe that she was entitled to some benefits to which it now seems she may not be.
 
is one legal view on the issue of employment contract non-compete clauses:
H. EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENTS

Restraint of Trade

The common law Doctrine of Restraint of Trade has long been used to regulate employee non-compete clauses. Under the Doctrine, a non-compete clause in an employment agreement must be reasonable if it is to be enforceable. What is reasonable will depend upon the circumstances of each individual case. A non-compete clause in an employment agreement must be limited in scope to the business of the company, and in geographic area to the area in which the company carries out its business. The time-limit must be reasonable, and this will vary depending upon the context. An employee may be restrained from soliciting customers and other employees but in practice it may be difficult to enforce these clauses in the courts.
 
Hi Margie,
I don't think not being the first or last has much relevance to your case, you have my sympathy dealing with this stress on top of your pregnancy. If you find you don't get anywhere with your current employer ( a friend of mine was told "if they want you back they'll pay you") and decide to go for a job where you'll be appreciated, when your ready to go back to work, surely you've perfect experience to get a job in the state sector such as the VEC? That way you will have family friendly hours and more holidays! If you go this route start looking well in advance, the state sector is frightening slow :eek: ..
Good luck with your baby I hope everything else goes well for you ;)
 
moneygrower, thank you for your lovely comment. I was thinking of a change of job to be honest where i can get better entitlements.

The other thing that really annoys me about my job is that we are paid by cheque which is stoneage at this stage. They refuse to pay into our bank accounts.

Fed up with the whole lot really to be honest.
 
Some employers in the private sector don’t pay top ups because some women take maternity leave even when they have no intention of going back to work when the leave is up. My company pays maternity top ups even though the last employees to take it have not come back. One of them asked for an extra month, got paid, and then quit. We learned later that she had planned to do this from the start. Despite this I think it is right and proper that companies should top up maternity pay where they can afford to do so.
 
I think another poster pointed out the way around this which is to demand a repayment when a person doesn't return to work which is fair enough.
Best of luck Margie, I hope you look back an laugh in the future.
 
I think another poster pointed out the way around this which is to demand a repayment when a person doesn't return to work which is fair enough.

How many companies are willing to take former employees to court? If the lady in question acted in good faith and then found that she couldn't come back due to personal circumstances then I do not think it would be right to look for their top up pay to be returned. I suppose my point is that both the employer and the employee should act in good faith and take on board the others perspective and needs. Legal action against former employees can be bad for moral and create a “them and us” mentality within an organisation. I would rather loose a few thousand Euro than go down that road. My point is that some companies cannot afford to take the chance and cannot afford to risk the legal fees if they loose a court case. In the case of the OP she was given a strong impression (at least) that her salary would be topped up during maternity leave. The fact that her employer has gone back on this shows a bad attitude and lack of respect for their employees. It seems that she has been treated very badly.
 
I think if an employer isn't prepared to take someone to court to get back money that they're owed then there's no point in having a clawback clause cos noone would feel they had to come back. I had to sign a statement that I would repay if I didn't stay in employment for a year. I also didn't know how I'd feel about coming back so I made sure to put away enough money so that if I didn't come back I'd be able to repay. Also holiday entitlements build up when you're off so that's nearly a month's salary that can be deducted from what you owe.
I don't know many people who having signed a legal document saying they'd repay would try to get out of it and tell their employer that they'd have to sue them to get it.
If someone genuinely planned to come back and then couldn't for personal reasons then they're still obliged to repay the money. They could probably come to some arrangement to pay over time, but it'd be like getting a bank loan and then not wanting to repay it because you can't afford to - that's just not an option. If I woked in a different company I might not have got paid at all.

While I feel for the OP who was led to believe she would get paid, her manager got it wrong, it's HR who make these decisions and if they paid her because of the mistake then they'd also have to pay everyone after her and that may not be feasible.

As for employment contracts, these details weren't included in my contract and I doubt that they're in many contracts. But it is in the HR policy which is available on the company intranet. You have to be working there before you'd have access though.

At the end of the day it is a perk and perks can be provided and removed at will unless they're in contracts. And no employer is obliged to provide perks.
 
A non compete clause is generally unenforceable in Ireland as far as I know

They can and have been enforced here...there was a case a few years back of a (fairly senior) telecoms employee who was leaving to work for a competitor. Former employer was successful in preventing her from taking up for position for (I think) 6 months.

Having said that for your average employee it's unlikely a company would spend the money going to court to enforce such a clause.
 
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