Bonuses during matenity leave

In Hoyland v Asda Stores Ltd the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in Scotland has ruled that a pro-rata reduction of a bonus for absence on maternity leave was neither sex discrimination nor a pregnancy-related detriment.

Mrs Hoyland was employed by Asda, the supermarket chain. For six months during 2002 she was on maternity leave. Throughout this time Asda operated a bonus scheme, which was based on the performance of the employee's own store: they were awarded a standard bonus for achieving their store's target for the financial year. The rules provided that an individual's bonus payment would be pro-rated to reflect absences of longer than eight consecutive weeks. Maternity leave was expressly treated as absence for this purpose. Mrs Hoyland's bonus was duly reduced pro-rata to reflect her absence on maternity leave. Mrs Hoyland brought proceedings in the Employment Tribunal, claiming that the pro-rata reduction constituted sex discrimination and that it was a