Suspending childcare vouchers during maternity leave – EAT appeal

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Is an employer obliged to continue to provide childcare vouchers during maternity leave? The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) last week heard the case of Peninsula Business Services v Donaldson, an appeal hearing on the lawfulness of suspending membership of a childcare vouchers scheme while an employee is on maternity leave. Peninsula’s scheme provides employees with a reduced salary in return for tax-saving childcare vouchers, which are provided by a childcare voucher company. However, it requires employees to suspend their membership during various types of leave. These include maternity and paternity leave, and sick leave when the employee is entitled to only statutory sick pay. The claimant sought to join the childcare vouchers scheme while she was pregnant. However, she was refused entry to the scheme because she would not agree to this condition. She brought a claim in the employment tribunal, on the basis that the requirement discriminates against women on maternity leave. In Donaldson v Peninsula Business Services, the employment tribunal held that the employer committed discrimination by making agreement to suspend membership during maternity leave a prerequisite of joining the childcare vouchers scheme. On 22 January 2016, the EAT heard the appeal against the employment tribunal decision. The employer's arguments revolved around the nature of childcare vouchers and whether or not they count as