Redundancy and miscarriage

[BC1978]

Hi,

I am currently on notice for redundancy from my currenty firm. Everything is being done correctly, and I have an interview next week. I understand that I can be made redundant but any other suitable post must be offered to me.

My question however is that one of the selection criteria is absence in the last 2 years. During the last 2 years I had a miscarriage and was off work for 10 working days.

Does this time off count as pregnancy related and thus cannot be taken into consideration, or is it just standard time off work sick. Could it be considered sex disrimination if they take it into account, as a male could not be off work as a result of a miscarriage?

Clearly it could make a big difference to me, so I am anxious to find out.

Any ideas would be grateful received.

Thanks

BC1978

[flowerybeanbag]

That would be pregnancy-related, yes, so it can't be taken into account.

Do they know?

[BC1978]

yes they know, my sick note from the GP quoted 'total miscarriage'. Do you know of any law that I can go into my interview armed with?

Thanks

BC1978

[flowerybeanbag]

It's sex discrimination. If you are made redundant the reason must not be wholly or partly because of pregnancy, so therefore pregnancy-related illness cannot be taken into account when making decisions about redundancy selection.

This factsheet has some information.

[BC1978]

thanks for your advice. I thought it was sex discrimination, but having confirmation is good!!

[flowerybeanbag]

Rather than wait and see and then have to appeal it, it might be a good idea to drop HR/your manager an email, something like

'I understand that absence for the last two years will be taken into account when selecting employees for redundancy. As pregnancy-related sickness absence cannot be included in calculations for this purpose, I would like to just double check that you do have my 10-day absence of xxxx (date) to xxxx (date) correctly recorded as pregnancy-related.'

That way you are making sure they do check it, and don't just look at numbers of days off, and are drawing their attention to the fact that you know it mustn't be included as well.

[BC1978]

thats a good idea.

Thanks

[RibenaBerry]

I would strongly agree with Flowery here. Especially if it was a little while ago, it is easy for that type of thing to get overlooked and included in the figures, even if the employer knows the law and would never intentionally discriminate in this way.