My bonus was pro-rated to deduct my maternity leave

[mh86]

@samanthayeah Right!! And let’s be real, you did extra work before and after leave

 

[blessedbythebest88]

@mh86 Yeah some companies just don't care, I had a friend whose coworker said "well, you decided to get pregnant" when she was commenting on all her extra hours.

 

[sanegirl]

@mh86 Yep my husband usually get a quarterly bonus if he reaches certain metrics. He took off 2 weeks paternity leave when our child was born and because it was a leave of absence he didn't get his bonus at all even though he reached the metrics. FOR 2 WEEKS out of the 4 months!

 

[mh86]

@sanegirl That’s insane!! My husbands bonus wasn’t prorated for his 8 week leave! Is company isn’t HQrd in the US which probably explains a lot lol

 

[spiritualseeker1989]

@mh86 My guess is because it's based on time in seat, and apart from pto, therefore short term disability in most cases, perfectly legal.

 

[geneva48]

@mh86 I’m in Canada and work in payroll and my company does this too. Our bonus language states that it’s paid out as a percentage of earnings so they’re covered.

It’s the same for employees who start mid year, they only get paid out for the months they were active/had actual earnings.

I would definitely check the language in your contract but I’m sure they’ve covered themselves.

 

[ethelfaye]

@mh86 I work in financial services. At the American bank I worked at when I had my babies, I did not have my bonus pro-rated for my 12 week maternity leaves. However, the European bank I worked at next did pro-rate bonuses for maternity leave (5 months for Americans there, full pay).

Before you escalate, I would suggest you check the employee handbook and see if it talks about pro-rating bonuses for any leaves. It may be that all leaves are in scope for bonus being pro-rated.

 

[nrg23]

@mh86 Wow. Please post this on glassdoor under the review/benefits section. ETA: also worth checking with an unbiased eeoc lawyer using a free consult bc hr exists to protect the company, they lie and also don’t even always understand where their company policy violates the law. BTDT.

 

[taylor1391]

@mh86 I see a post like this on here weekly so it must be pretty typical. I think it’s fucked up but I don’t know if it’s illegal. Probably depends on your contract

 

[jackielh]

@mh86 It's pretty typical. Some companies are going away from it.

 

[rvgirl42]

@mh86 Yup, I just signed my new bonus agreement for this year and it will be pro-rated due to my planned leave. My company doesn’t have any type of maternity leave policy, just FMLA, so I was expecting that.

 

[tony717]

@mh86 Well, no you didn’t have 25 working days unpaid, you had 98 days that you didn’t work. This is akin unfortunately to the same way you don’t accrue PTO for holidays or day you’re out on PTO.

 

[mh86]

@tony717 I do accrue PTO while I’m out on PTO. I’m salary so maybe that’s why it’s different.

 

[tony717]

@mh86 So strange, no usually salary has nothing to do with it, but lucky you.

 

[kitneeee]

@mh86 My company doesn’t do this. Received full bonus after both of my maternity leaves.

 

[hopefullidija]

@kitneeee Same here. I got my full bonus. It's BS that all these other companies don't.

 

[vincentstoppazzoni]

@mh86 My bonus was prorated as well. I did the math to ensure I was only prorated for the 8 weeks of leave paid out by my company and short term disability, not the remainder that I used accrued PTO for.

 

[conwel]

@mh86 Yes, typical for performance based incentives like a bonus. We also prorate bonuses for folks that come on-board after the bonus cycle begins.

It's calculated based on an employees performance, we use a corporate scorecard to evaluate. If the employee is absent, we cannot do the calculation without accounting for time away from work.

 

[emxcore]

@mh86 I’m in hr. This is typical but I’d encourage you to think about it as days worked versus punishing you bc you were out on mat leave. We do the same if a man was out for parental leave (and offer the same amount of time for every parent regardless if adopting or birthing). Also if someone was out for any other reason we simply calculate it on the time that you were working. I think that’s logical and fair. And I am a woman that has had a baby. I wouldn’t expect to be paid bonus for time I wasn’t working.

 

[mh86]

@emxcore Expect this was a planned absence so let’s be real, I did extra work before and after to keep my projects running smoothly with minimal help from others in my office. My pay was already deducted for those days not worked, this is about performance and overall outcomes which stayed on track in spite of my leave.