Settlement figure for maternity discrimination?

Get an employment lawyer quickly. Refuse to engage until you have representation. I can recommended an excellent lawyer so PM me. The co will end up paying their fees so don't worry about that.

I'd go big guns on this. Ask for a lot and negotiate back from that.

The fact that they are trying to rush you is a them problem. Don't let them pressure you.

Stay strong. Get legal advice quickly.

It was 100% not company culture driving this figure. They originally offered me a month's salary - but I got a very good lawyer who fought my corner. I also had direct evidence of maternity discrimination

Get a lawyer OP - it'll save you money in this case

I was demoted discriminately by my previous employer - in the end I got about a 150% of my salary. They settled before it went to tribunal - I raised a case with ACAS and put in a GDPR request. They were supposed to reply to the GDPR within 30 days I think but didn't - they obviously didn't want me to see the results. I did engage a solicitor which cost around £2k which was well worth it

Have a go. I think you are likely to have to compromise. Employment tribunals cap payments at c.£115K unless there is clear evidence that you were treated unfairly because of a protected characteristic, and not just treated unfairly. With paternity leave being extended, that is harder to prove. It’s also a problem with the Equalities Act as arguably all discrimination should be treated the same way, even if the exact reason for it can’t be proved.

You maybe able to take someone else into the meeting with you to make notes etc but don't be forced into a meeting unprepared.
Minute everything, if anything is said on the phone follow up with an email to confirm what was said.
Do not agree to anything without proper legal support.
Although your home insurance has lapsed, it might be worth contacting them to see if they would support you, as you were paying home insurance at the time the decision was made, even if you have only just been told!
Good luck and be prepared to go to tribunal if you need and let them know that!

Agree with the consensus - don't agree to anything, and get legal advice. It isn't optional here.

They should pay or make a contribution to your legal fees. You need an employment lawyer. There is a ‘formula’ to follow and you want to make sure you’re seeking compensation for every area possible.

This is bad advice. You need to know what the offer is not hide away from it.

If it’s rubbish and you need to go nuclear via a solicitor that might be the time to get signed off with Work Related Stress but not before.

Yes they will try and pug you under time pressure but who cares as it’s meaningless as if the offer is good why draw it out? If the offer is bad who cares about the deadline anyway? The OP can’t sign a Settlement Agreement there and then as she needs to take legal advice on it.

Even if OP says “yes please I would love to accept your offer and I’m thrilled with it” and then goes and takes advice from a solicitor and realises it pants she isn’t bound to still accept the offer. Nothing is binding until it is signed by all parties, including OP’s solicitor.

Also try unite the union. I don't know directly about them but probably similar - you don't have to have already signed up before the issue arose with employees united, and is mostly calls that you can arrange when time permits and give the date of the meeting for their presence

Don’t allow them to rush you into anything. Either postpone the meeting or go on sick leave.

Legal advice needs to be your priority.

Try Employees united. You PAYG (I know not ideal) and they do calls with you then attend in person any meeting you have

They're very good

If you really can’t find a solicitor beforehand then do what @LittleMissCloud says!! I got a year’s salary (…almost 20 years ago)

I would highly recommend a copy of "never split the difference" in terms of helpful suggestions for how to negotiate this. Including e.g. let the person you're negotiating with give the first information (i.e. make the first suggestion of a number), but also to remember to anchor really high. I.e. if what you want is a year's salary plus bonus plus notice period then ask for that plus another 50% on top so you have room to come down.

Edited to add: agreed on the various points re needing representation and WP Vs non-WP meetings as well, and not agreeing to anything at the time.

Do not say a word in the WP meeting. Just ask for a copy of their offer at the end and tell them you need time for advice. Then find the best lawyer possible. Don’t worry about cost - companies usually end up paying this as part of your settlement. Look up Alison Downie solicitor. The law changed a while back (I think) banning companies from sacking wonen within a few months of returning from mat leave. They would get totally rinsed in a tribunal and discrimination under a protected characteristic is unlimited damages… When it comes to the negotiations they should think you’re not afraid of taking them to one. This looks slam dunk to me so they need to pay you out properly but only agree at the last minute. They are counting on you feeling vulnerable and too overwhelmed to fight. Get fired up for your family! Feel free to DM.

You can absolutely get a lawyer at short notice. Didlaw are good and will pick up on the basis of an initial scoping call (I don't work for them and have no skin in the game but was helped by them in a similar case).

Unless you are in an absolute growth industry, hold out for more than you think. The impacts of discrimination in pregnancy are felt when you interview as a candidate with a baby.

This is excellent advice.

Go to the meeting, listen to what they have to say and don’t respond/negotiate/agree anything.

Finish the meeting with “thank you for your offer, I will come back to you once I have taken advice”.

Get a lawyer. I did and I am one (not practising in employment). They are used to jumping in and getting up to speed quickly. The company will pay a set amount of legal fees as standard to review a settlement agreement so you will only pay whatever is in excess of this.

As others have said, you don’t have to dance to their tune whatever they’re telling you. You have a right to seek legal counsel. They’re trying to bully you into agreeing to their terms or settling fast so that you don’t have time to get that counsel as it will be much cheaper for them in the long run. You cannot agree to anything or negotiate with them. This needs to be done by an employment lawyer and through a legal procedure.

Long version

OP it’s a Without Prejudice (WP) meeting. They are going to tell you how much they are offering. Just listen. You don’t need a solicitor there (and no employer would allow it) and you won’t commit to anything.

However, have some initial chats with solicitors so you know who you would like to instruct.

Depending on the WP offer you can get your solicitor to either (a) advise you on the Settlement Agreement if you are happy with the package (employer usually pays this); (b) to continue the WP dialogue and improve your offer; or (c) go nuclear.

Any meeting that is not WP should be handled more carefully and you should make lots of noise and articulate that you consider you are being discriminated against.

However your post clearly states the meeting is a WP one so show up and see what’s on offer.

No offer is binding until you agree it and get advice from a solicitor (your solicitor has to countersign the Settlement Agreement) which takes at least a week.

Short version:

WP meeting = listen, Find out what’s on offer, give them a hard stare, say you’ll take advice. Then hand it over to your solicitor to act as appropriate depending on the value of the offer.

Non WP meeting/redundancy meeting = “you fuckers are discriminating against me and it’s unlawful and I don’t accept it”

Easy

Get. a. lawyer. Even if it means delaying. My DH recently hired one for redundancy. £500-£1000 is no big deal when you’re leveraging for a £150k payout.

Please, and I can’t stress this enough, get a shit hot lawyer. If you have to go to this meeting alone listen but don’t say or commit to anything. Just take notes and say you’ll be taking advice and will get back to them. Can you take a colleague/union rep into the meeting with you?

Sorry I see they have … took a while to read all posts. Is the job you have been offered the same pay? You say it’s less senior but in what way? Are you managing other people? Is someone new managing you?

I think you need to be quite careful here.

I thought if you had been off more than 6 months they didn’t have to guarantee you the same job on your return just an equivalent?

have they offered anything?

Slow down op. You don’t have to dance to their tune.
‘dear manager, there is a lot of conflicting information here, there’s what you are telling me about my job was made redundant, while I can see that you seem to have omitted every step of a redundancy process, and also there seems still to be my maternity cover doing what looks like my job. Please bear in mind I know my job quite well so the role context is familiar to me. I need time to process this and seek advice. I will not be available to meet next week, can I suggest any time from late <date 2.5 weeks from now> that is within my usual working hours? You have known all about this for 9 months and I found out a week ago, so that seems to be a very reasonable time frame given the information gap and also the various conflicting information here.

Why don’t you say why instead of just calling other people’s advice shit?