Legal implications of paying a bonus to females returning from maternity leave as a retention tool

Posted in : Seamus Says - Employment Law Discussion on 1 November 2019
Seamus McGranaghan
O'Reilly Stewart Solicitors
Issues covered:

What if any legal implications are there in having a policy of paying a bonus to females returning from maternity leave as a retention tool to increase the number of female employees in a male-dominated industry?

So I suppose the background here is there aren't that many females. They're losing them as they go off and have children. They're trying to keep them there, and so they're saying, "Look, we'll keep the bonus payments going." And if you come back, it's almost like a golden handshake for coming back. Men don't get it, presumably because they're not off on maternity leave, and they haven't had the absence. But there may be an issue here around, well, what if they took paternity leave?

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This article is correct at 01/11/2019
Disclaimer:

The information in this article is provided as part of Legal-Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article.

Seamus McGranaghan
O'Reilly Stewart Solicitors

The main content of this article was provided by Seamus McGranaghan. Contact telephone number is 028 9032 1000 or email seamus.mcgranaghan@oreillystewart.com

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