It is important to remember that employers may provide employees with benefits under their contracts of employment that are more favourable than the rights guaranteed by employment legislation.
It is common, for example, for larger employers to offer maternity pay that is more generous than the statutory minimum. Many employers also give paternity pay based on normal wages or salary and allow some time off with pay to deal with family emergencies, and in particular bereavement. Even small employers may find that it suits their business requirements and their employees' personal needs not to operate within the confines of the legislation.
In all these cases, employees' family rights are contractual, based either on their contracts of employment or on the specific agreement that they have reached with their employer. For these employees and their employers, the complexities of the employment legislation are relevant only insofar as the employees' contractual rights cannot fall below the level provided by the legislation in any respect.
To the extent that its family benefits are more generous than the statutory minimum, an employer can make those benefits dependent on the employee meeting certain conditions. It is common, for example, for companies that provide generous maternity pay to make it conditional on the employee completing a certain period of service after her return to work, failing which she will be required to repay whatever she has received in excess of statutory maternity pay.
It is important for an employer to make clear any conditions that apply to contractual family benefits.