Q: A football coach who works two hours a week for my children’s football club is now pregnant. Will I now have to pay her maternity pay?
Nov 22 2007
Answered by: Peter Done Ask a question
It’s not clear what the contractual relationship is in this instance. If she is simply a volunteer providing her services for free then there is no requirement whatsoever to pay her anything at all.
However, your question does use the expression “works for two hours” and therefore it implies that she is paid. To be entitled to maternity pay, as opposed to maternity leave, she will have had to have had average earnings above the lower earnings limit and it is impossible for me to tell from your query whether she is in fact of receipt of more than that figure per week.
I would suspect that with only two hours a week, it is unlikely that she would be over that limit (in which case you do not have to pay her anything). She may then be entitled to some form of maternity benefit from the Benefits Agency but that would be an issue for her to explore with them.
With regard to maternity leave, if she is an employee then she is entitled to this and you would need to follow all of those processes required under the statutes. I assume she has no contractual rights greater than statute- if she does then those apply.
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