They will shut down my department I will be on Maternity leave but make me redundant anyway!

[DalidaPP]

I am 37 weeks pregnant my maternity leave will start in 2 weeks time. My company is going to transfer my area to another city so they will shut down the whole department then everybody in my area will be redundant. We have already got a letter saying that the consultation period is 30 days and our staff representative confirm that once that period finishes we will get the redundancy letter and company will pay us one month notice, I have been told that the above apply for me in the same way that to the others irrespective that my pregnancy and that I will be on maternity leave when that occurs.

My employer is part of a big group of difference companies in different sectors and also not all the areas will be transferred to another city so in the same letter they gave us some advices for looking for a job and gave us a guide for applying to the positions advertised on the intranet.

I have got some doubts:

Should I be treated in the same way that the others? Don?t they have the obligation of offering me another job within the company or within the others associated companies?
As I will be on maternity leave Am I entitled to receive the payment of 1 month notice (pay in lieu) they will give to the others?

I would really appreciate your comments. Thanks !!

[Cosette]

I'm so sorry to hear that - what awful timing for you. My understanding is that you can be made redundant whilst pregnant or on maternity leave, as long as you have been treated fairly. As your whole team has been made redundant, it sounds like you are not being singled out so yes that is fair.

However, I know (from here!) that there is a piece of legislation that does give a woman on maternity leave the right to be offered any suitable roles, and not to have to compete with others for it. It sounds like you will be on maternity leave by the time the consultation finishes, so you should be able to take advantage of this. You need to look on the intranet and see what other jobs are suitable for you. Have a read through other threads in this topic, particularly for posts by flowerybeanbag and hopefully she will come along and confirm this.

[RibenaBerry]

You are right about the effect of Regulation 10 - with the caveat that the job must be 'suitable'.

Bear in mind, however, that because you aren't currently on leave, the regulation hasn't started to apply (although it sounds like it will in time to protect you, based on your dates). HR departments are not always as on-the-ball or joined up as they should be on this issue, so even if they are aware of it, you may have slipped through the net to be notified.

I would suggest either contacting HR direct or going through your elected representative to highlight the fact that Regulation 10 will come into play on your deployment and ask how they want to deal with it. Some big employers will still ask you to 'apply' for the vacancy. This can be a legitimate way of distinguishing the roles that you are actually interested in (no point offering you something you wouldn't touch with a barge pole) and assisting a manager who may not know you at all (especially if he/she is in another group company) in understanding whether you are suitable for the vacancy in his/her team.

Hope that helps.

[RibenaBerry]

Sorry, I mean "on your redeployment".

[flowerybeanbag]

What Ribena said. If there is a suitable alternative vacancy available, then yes you should be offered it without having to compete with other candidates, i.e. even if they might be more suitable for the role than you.

Have you looked at the list of vacancies and identified something you think is suitable?

[DalidaPP]

Thank you all for your advices I will have a look at the vacancies and tell them about the regulation 10, will let you know what they say