My bonus was pro-rated to deduct my maternity leave

[jt4jesus]

@mh86 I have been out of work since January and my due date is April. My work covers 3 months of leave for accruals and after that it stops. So my PTO and my bonus for next year. I’ll be out basically 5 months as I’m expected to be out from January to august.

I’d double check with your HR department.

 

[hmangte]

@mh86 I think it’s pretty typical of any leave taken unfortunately. Companies don’t seem to consider if the nickel and diming is worth jeopardizing the employee relationship.

 

[mh86]

@hmangte Well this nickel is $8K so it’s worth it to me lol

 

[happymommyof4]

@mh86 Is that even legal where you live? I was legally entitled to the same Xmas bonus as everyone else at my company when I was on 9 months of maternity leave because of anti-discrimination laws. I'd definitely check that.

 

[mh86]

@happymommyof4 That’s the thing, it’s a company wide bonus. My personal performance doesn’t factor in at all. I may look into the state laws, but I’m in Indiana so it’s pretty unlikely we’ll have a law that help a woman over a company

 

[are92]

@mh86 That’s against the federal FMLA law (Family Medical and Leave act). That law says that you CANNOT be penalized for taking leave that falls under FMLA (and obviously, maternity leave does).

Below is a link to an organization for working women that can assist you. It’s called 9to5.

https://9to5.org/home/

You can go to HR as well. If HR is doing their job, they should agree with you. To be clear, NOT because they’re benign, wonderful people or anything. . But because they’re supposed to stop the company from breaking the law!

Good luck!

 

[susansnook]

@are92 It's not penalizing because the bonus is not guaranteed. It's giving a bonus only for the portion of the year that you worked.

Yes it sucks and disproportionately affects women, but not illegal.

 

[are92]

@susansnook Although I see what you’re saying, that sounds ambiguous enough to check with an attorney (if OP can afford it).

FMLA doesn’t just say that you can’t be fired. It also says that you can’t be penalized for taking it. So that includes performance reviews, performance based things, being demoted, etc.

So it sounds ambiguous, at minimum, as to whether withholding a bonus counts as a penalty. If they said, for example, “You obviously didn’t perform well because you took maternity leave”, that’s an illegal penalty!

If they pro-rate everyone’s bonus based on their paid hours, that may be different. But then, do they penalize you for taking paid vacation, for example? Will a male employee be penalized for a sabbatical?

It may be worth checking with an attorney at the 9to5 website that I linked above (if OP can afford it). I think 9to5 might do pro-bono work for an initial consultation, but not sure. Good luck!

 

[mh86]

@are92 Thanks so much for sharing!!

 

[katrina2017]

@mh86 Same happened for me. My maternity leave (30 days) and STD (6 weeks) were not included in eligible earnings for my bonus. Definitely bullshit

 

[jecaa]

@mh86 I got my full bonus this quarter and I’ve been out on leave 2 months. Ashamed to say I was pleasantly surprised, kinda was not expecting to get one. But it should be typical! Definitely push back! Rooting for you!

 

[garfieldp]

@mh86 Oh great. Now I am worried about this happening to me when I get my bonus in June. I was on May leave from August to November last year

 

[needhope2day]

@mh86 Yeah, last time I left for maternity leave I got my full bonus and was told by my boss I should be grateful I got my full bonus even though I didn’t work for 12 weeks.

 

[ariannehowell]

@mh86 I work for a very large company that does this. My bonus is a decent part of my pay so… I ended up losing out on more pay than the cost of daycare

 

[mh86]

@ariannehowell That’s where I’m at too. Really sucks!

 

[0207]

@mh86 My bonuses are usually around $1000, and the bonus after my maternity leave was $31. I would have preferred if they just gave me nothing.

 

[jasmarie]

@mh86 Just got my bonus award amount and it was NOT prorated even though I was out for 3 months on mat leave last year. Work in corporate for reference. Love the suggested email wording from above.

 

[kingbayliss]

@mh86 Yes happened to me too. I was unsuccessful when pushing back but I say go for it!!!

 

[allison55667]

@mh86 My company also prorates performance bonus for maternity leave. Merit increases (raises) are not pro rated to my knowledge. It sucks and I really want to push back and ask if we pro rate for the parental leave offered to non birthing parents (4 weeks, I took 16 months as the birthing parent)…but even if we do it’s 1/12 of their bonuses, not 1/3 of their bonus. It’s as if everything I did to prep for my leave, prep my team for my leave, prep for return, doesn’t count. It sucks. Like really sucks. I would have hit an (arbitrary) milestone income number if my bonus wasn’t pro rated. I guess there’s always next year.

 

[calesurf]

@mh86 My bonus was not pro-rated, but one of my friend’s was. Utter bullshit.