Maternity pay

[hevvybear]

Hi all,
To cut a long story short, my sister in law works at a popular fast food chain in the UK that apparently only offers 8 hour contracts. I won't go into my views on this as it seems an obvious tactic to dodge a lot of employee benefits like their AL by getting these people to work 40 hours every week as over time but only have 8 hours actually on their contracts.
She is now 35 weeks pregnant and has just gone on her maternity leave, but apparently before she went her manager told her that they'll probably be paying her 40 pounds a week or something around there because her contract is only for 8 hours (she works on average 40 hours every week). I have tried to tell her that this can't be right as they should surely pay you either the minimum statutory amount or 90% of your average weekly earnings? Is there anything she can do to chase this up further to ensure she is given a reasonable maternity pay. Not sure what they think 40 a week is going to pay for. I feel like these companies prey on people that don't know any better and take total advantage of them when all they want to do is earn an honest living.
Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated.

[ULA]

For your sister-in-law to qualify for statutory maternity pay (SMP) she needs to meet the following criteria:

1. be on her employer's payroll in the "qualifying week" which is the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth
2. have given her employer the correct notice
3. provided proof of pregnancy usually via a MATB1 form
4. have been continuously by for at least 26 weeks up to any day in the qualifying week
5. earn at least £118 a week (gross) in an 8-week "relevant period". This eight week relevant period starts on the last payday at least 8 weeks before the end of the relevant period which is the last payday on or before the Saturday of the qualifying week (i.e. 15 weeks before the week the baby is expected). Add up all the earnings and divide by 8.

If she meets the criteria the you sister-in-law will be entitled to for up to 39 weeks SMP, usually as follows:

1. the first 6 weeks: 90% of their average weekly earnings (AWE) before tax
2. the remaining 33 weeks: £148.68 or 90% of their AWE (whichever is lower)

Also tax and National Insurance does need to be deducted from the payments.