Redundancies being announced in the new year - do I tell them I'm pregnant?

[rockdoctor]

Hi everyone - this morning I received a group-wide e-mail from our managing director saying that they are currently doing a review process and significant redundancies will be announced in the New Year. I am around 10 weeks pregnant and haven't told anyone at work yet - was going to wait until the New Year. So,,,, any employment lawyers out there? Should I tell them now or leave it? I will have a chance to talk to my boss on Monday and really can't afford to lose my job (but then who can?) My DH has been out of work since the middle of the year so with both of us unemployed and a new baby I'm not sure how we'll cope.

[expatinscotland]

i wouldn't tell them i was pregnant.

[Botbot]

I'd wait until whenever you were originally planning to tell them, because after all, pregnancy shouldn't make any difference at all.

If it helps, where I work went through a wave of redundancies about a week after I'd announced I was pregnant, and I kept my job.

[gigglewitch]

flowerybeanbag & co likely to be the experts on this.
Gist is, if they make you redundant because you are pg, they are automatically discriminating and you can take them to tribunal etc.
If you are able to work until your "qualifying week" - err it used to be around 11wks before your EDD i think, then your maternity pay should be ok. Otherwise you will get MA - maternity allowance. Check out Direct.gov for the details, sorry my knowledge on this isn't bang up to date atm as a few bits have changed recently.

[gigglewitch]

ok that meant qualifying week is actually 15 wks before your baby is due.

Also meant to add that in this case it appears that you would not be made redundant due to your pg so you are pretty much in the same boat as anyone else. However, if you make them aware of your pregnancy then they might think twice as some employers are mighty scared of maternity rights and don't want to appear family-un-friendly. Don't take this as advice though [sorry] just make sure you are well informed as to what your rights actually are.

[Finchley2008]

an employment lawyer here - again, don't take this as definitive advice but I would think very carefully before you tell them you are pregnant. Firstly - you aren't protected from being made redundant just because you are pregnant (your position would be a little different if you were on maternity leave). Also, even though legally employers aren't allowed to take into account the fact that you are pregnant when selecting for redundancy, unfortunately not everyone complies with the law and it can be hard to prove that is the reason they selected you for redundancy. Good luck.

[flowerytaleofNewYork]

You don't have specific protection from redundancy when pregnant, however most employers would be extra careful about making doubly sure it was absolutely fair and open when there is a pregnant employee involved. So I'm going to disagree here and say I think you should mention it.

You don't have an advantage as such, but in my experience employers tend to be more paranoid about this sort of thing when someone's pregnant so from that point of view it might help ensure a fair process.

Plus, as an employer, it's cheaper to let someone go on maternity leave and not bring anyone in to replace them than to make someone redundant.

[rockdoctor]

Thanks for the advice. Still not sure what I'll do on this one. My initial thought was to mention it as I'm in a fairly senior position in a large multinational so expect they'll play it by the book. Now I'm not so sure... Would be interested to knowm how the maternity pay works. If I work until my qualifying week then do I get my full rights to enhanced maternity pay? Can I choose to work my notice period (3 months) in order to make it to the qualifying week?

[VerifiedLU4097]

I'm oretty sure that unless of course you have no idea that you're preggers, you have to let your employer know at 14 wks, but I know some leave it until their 20 week scan to ensure all is ok first.

[VerifiedLU4097]

thats pretty not oretty....

[lou031205]

Verified, you have got a bit muddled. You have to tell your employer by the 15th week before EDD, so by 25 weeks pregnant.

I would tell, tbh. At 10 weeks on you may start to show a little, and so they may suspect any way. By telling them, they are in no doubt, and you don't have to prove that they knew when they were selecting for redundancy.

[flowerytaleofNewYork]

rockdoctor as long as you are still employed at the qualifying week you get SMP. If you are made redundant and your notice period would take you past that, then you should get it. If they decide to pay you in lieu (you should check to see if there is a clause in your contract enabling them to do this) and terminate your employment immediately then you wouldn't qualify technically, but you'd argue that by not allowing you to work your notice period they were doing you out of SMP so would argue a bigger settlement to reflect that.

PILON (particularly if there's no contractual clause entitling the employer to do it) is basically compensation for breach of contract, so in terms of the compensation you'd need as someone who would otherwise qualify for SMP, it's a bit more than just notice pay.

Hope that makes sense.

[rockdoctor]

Thanks Flowery for your advice. I also talked to a lawyer this morning who seconded everything you've said (never doubted that she would), but also advised that until I get some paperwork or official notification there's no point me handing over any cash for her services. So I'll let them know I'm pregnant and then sit tight and wait and see what happens.

[lou031205]

Of course I suppose that if you were terminated and argued successfully that you were done out of SMP, so got an enhanced settlement, you could still then go on to claim Maternity Allowance...