Redundancies and TTC

[hulawoop]

I know there’s likely going to be many redundancies in my organisation, not sure to what extent or whether it will affect my department directly. I don’t think it will, but can’t be sure.

We are TTC and I’ve not yet been there two years for a few more months so i’m a bit antsy now after chatting to a friend who was made redundant under similar circumstances five years ago, but never bothered to contact citizens advice. Albeit my friend did work for a charity which was very small and my employer is very large, not sure what difference it makes. Should I be worried or is maternity enough of a protected characteristic these days?

Still entitled to SMP for 39 weeks if made redundant in or after your qualifying week

but no - being pregnant doesn’t protect you against redundancy

Assuming of course you don’t think you’ve been selected for redundancy because you’re pregnant

unlikely if lots of redundancies at same time

Sorry maybe I wasn’t clear. I’m just worried about being made redundant as an easy option because of any future pregnancy, given I’ve not been there two years surelt they wouldn’t need to give a reason

I’m confused
have you told them you’re TTC?

No. I just happen to know there’s redundancies and I am TTC so worried if I’d be an easy one to make redundant!

Yes of course on the basis you haven’t been there 2 years

but not on account of you being pregnant

but you’re not pregnant 😐

Are you worried about fact you haven’t been there 2 years OR fact that… well you aren’t pregnant so I’m confused.

No, but as I made clear I’m TTC so might be pregnant when redundancies occur?

Why on earth did you tell them you’re TTC??!!!

I can’t fathom telling my employer that in TTC. Particularly when I’ve not been there 2 years. And well - it’s none of their business

UNLESS you are having ivf?

I asked if you’d told them you are TTC

and you said “no” 😐

@hulawoop put ttc on hold until you know your safe from possible job losses. Simple.

Why on earth did you tell them you were ttc...I know now there is a culture of sharing but unless time off for ivf and tbh I even hid this as didn't want employer to see me as vulnerable or less committed. I know people aren't meant to see it that way but they do 😞

Depending on your age I would consider pausing but if the issue is not being made redundant whilst pregnant but more vulnerability because you are seen as less committed because of saying you were ttc then the situation is now beyond your control so keep ttc.

The OP said she hasn't told her employer she is TTC - she said "as I made clear" meaning she made it clear to posters on this site, not her employer.

Thank you!! Can’t believe some of the comments. I regret posting x

I would pause TTC until you know the score. Or, as soon as the BFP has dried, tell them you’re pregnant. You can always say it’s because you’re having horrible morning sickness and make out you’re slightly further along - dates get moved all the time.

Maybe you should ask for this to be moved or repost it on the Work topic OP. It might also be worth looking at income protection insurance, although it might be too late if redundancies have already been discussed.

The answer to your question is “no” being pregnant is not a protected characteristic re redundancies unless you have ground to believe you were made redundant because of your pregnancy

You don't need to tell your employer you are pregnant until you are 25 weeks

The law is changing to offer pregnant women more protection against redundancy but not until next year. At the moment you're better protected only once it start maternity leave.

https://www.lewissilkin.com/en/insights/redundancy-protection-to-be-extended-to-cover-pregnancy-and-return-from-family-leave

Why tell them? As then they would have to prove it wasn’t discrimination?

Basically, yes. If they don’t officially know about your pregnancy you don’t get any extra protection. Either they’ll act as they legally should (in which case you’re entitled to extra protection) or they don’t (in which case you have a far better chance of winning at ET if you can prove they knew about your pregnancy).

I wouldn’t usually advise telling work early but in a redundancy situation I would absolutely make sure I was covered. Because if you conceal your pregnancy and then get made redundant your options are:

• suck it up and be in a nightmare financial situation because of qualifying weeks (and the possibility of losing your career if you can’t find a new job at your level when finishing mat leave)
• job hunting when openly pregnant (cannot imagine how stressful and like it or not there are dinosaurs out there - and it’s hard to prove that you didn’t get the job purely due to pregnancy)
• job hunting while concealing the pregnancy and then having to deal with an immediate loss of credibility (among the aforementioned dinosaurs) when you later confirm it.

Frankly while going to ET is not a barrel of laughs, I’d rather declare early and ensure I’m protected if push came to shove.