to feel bitter about being made redundant while on maternity leave?

[hotchocolateismything]

I had a baby in August and two weeks after that the company informed me that my role was at risk.

I'm not the only person in my company being made redundant, but I'm the only one in my department.

They used vague categories like "problem solving" and "taking responsibility" and "teamwork" as scoring criteria.

I scored lowest in my department.

I think these categories aren't really objective and they can be easily manipulated to support whoever they want to get rid of for other reasons.

I never had a disciplinary and my work overall has been quite good. Certainly not worse than other people.

I know there's nothing I can do to challenge them, as I found out on google women on maternity leave can be made redundant if a fair selection process is used and the redundancy has nothing to with the pregnancy.

I still feel it's a slap in the face and that the managers took advantage of covid to hide maternity discrimination.

There was another woman who had a baby in July 2019 and her maternity leave ended in July 2020. They made her and her maternity cover apply for the same position and her maternity cover got the role.

She appealed against the decision and they had to create a new job role for her.

She was in a better legal position to me though as she could argue that her role wasn't really redundant.

I know I have no leg to stand on, but still feel like I'm being discriminated and disadvantaged for being a woman that dared to become pregnant and is now the mother of a young child.

The HR manager said to me in August I should get back to them when I feel ready to have the consultation meetings. I had quite a difficult birth with a massive hemorrhage and was very poorly after birth so needed to recover. I still haven't gotten back to them as I don't feel like talking to them and they also didn't reach out.

That sucks. Give "Pregnant then screwed" a call. Sadly this sort of things happens all too often. They will be able to help you make sure you receive any entitlements / fight the decision.

Maybe you can get advice here?
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/employment_issues/4078318-MNHQ-here-Another-FREE-legal-advice-clinic-from-Maternity-Action-about-pregnancy-maternity-or-parental-issues-at-work

Have any of these low-scoring issues ever been documented in your annual appraisal cycle? I assume not... I'd be gathering all written performance reviews and preparing a case against the fact you are now seen as not up to standard.

You could contact citizens advice or acas for advice. Same happened to me it was shit

@TinyBarista: I actually wasn't scored that low, I received a "good" in all categories. Which means other employees must have received an "excellent" in at least one category. I find the entire thing so cynical, I could be raging with madness.

I’m so sorry this is has happened to you, it’s awful to have to be dealing with this on top of a new baby and a difficult birth. A similar thing happened to me whilst on maternity leave and pregnant and then screwed, as suggested by a previous poster, we’re really helpful over the phone. Maternity action might also be able to help. As far as I’m aware, an employee at risk of redundancy on maternity leave/parental leave has additional rights compared with an employee who is not, in that if there is any suitable vacancy available during the consultation period, then the person on maternity/parental leave should be offered it without needing to be interviewed and before it’s offered to anyone not on maternity/parental leave. If your employer can’t show that a fair process has been followed, including taking into account your additional protection/rights as a person on maternity leave, then they are leaving themselves open to a claim for unfair dismissal on the basis of pregnancy/sex discrimination. As someone above said, document everything. Sending you much solidarity and I hope you manage to get a decent resolution.

Sympathies, this happened to me too. I was the only one in my team to go at first, as my role was standalone but within 6 months the whole team / office had been closed down. The process for me was fair, just unfortunate. I did get some redundancy pay.

When i got made redundant they used a criteria across the different offices of what work we do. Me and my colleague got the lowest score and were put up for redundancy.

We argued that others were doing A, B and C but we were not allowed to do this as our manager wouldnt let us and kept the work for herself. So we got a low score due to not doing A, B and C when we should have been.

I guess we could have appealed but i was happy to take the money and run.

I went through this last year and did a lot of research including speaking to citizens advice and a solicitor. It is illegal to make you redundant if there is another suitable alternative role you can be placed in.
In my situation, 10 Team leaders being reduced to 6 and we had to preference for one of those 6 roles. I was made redundant but they overturned the decision on my appeal because it is illegal and even in their HR policy. No idea what the HR department do tbh. Definitely get advice before you do anything. I wish now I had taken the redundancy and then taken them to a tribunal rather than going back to work with the people who put me through such stress and upset but at the time not having a job at the end of maternity leave feels like the worst thing in the world

It's a bit crap but they cant be expected to keep you on over someone else when they're making redundancies just because you had a baby.
The pandemic is really hitting most companies, not just those in the hospitality sector.

I wonder if the employees still working had a whiff this was in the pipeline and really upped their game whilst you were judged on the last 6 months before you went off when maybe you weren't quite sho on the ball?

OP you've had a name change fail.

Unless they have raised these issues before I think it is really unfair.

@flittingaboutagain: Ah, it sometimes does that, when I start a new thread on the website and then reply through the app xx

Unless they have raised these issues before I think it is really unfair

Playing devil's advocate: in all workplaces you have people doing a better job than others, it doesn't mean it has to be raised with these other employees, some people are just faster/more organized/have better people skills etc.
Then one day the company has to make someone redundant, shouldn't they be allowed to choose to keep the 'better' employees?
The added difficulty here is that OP is on maternity leave, but still, should the company has to make one of the 'better' employees redundant instead?

OP, one thing I don't understand, you said they asked you in August to let them know when you could attend consultation meetings, it is now November and you still haven't answered, I would worry this could play against you and make contact now. I don't believe you have anything to loose by doing so, only to gain.

OP I’m sorry... this is probably the worst kind of redundancy situation to be in whilst on maternity leave, because legally, an employment tribunal wouldn’t challenge the redundancy scores you were given as they aren’t legally allowed to do that, unless there is a glaringly obvious problem (such as disability or pregnancy absence counting towards scoring criteria).

At the point that you are redundant though, you are automatically entitled to be placed into a suitable alternative vacancy so please check with HR if there is anything available - and appeal, if you have grounds to do so based on your appraisals. They’d have to inflate your score enough for you to score higher than the next lowest scoring person for it to have any realistic impact though.

Scoring matrices are horribly subjective and I’ve seen employers use them countless times to get rid of people on the back of an allegedly fair procedure. It’s really unpleasant and I’m sorry it’s happened to you.

Good luck with your appeal if you go down that road.

Definitely give Pregnant then Screwed a call. In general, if there are suitable roles available, someone on maternity leave should be selected into one of those roles without going through the selection process...

I was going to say YANBU until I read this bit

The HR manager said to me in August I should get back to them when I feel ready to have the consultation meetings. I had quite a difficult birth with a massive hemorrhage and was very poorly after birth so needed to recover. I still haven't gotten back to them as I don't feel like talking to them and they also didn't reach out.

So they contacted you in August about your opportunity for consultation and you just haven't bothered because you "don't feel like talking to them...?"

Ok then.

They used vague categories like "problem solving" and "taking responsibility" and "teamwork" as scoring criteria

Actually these are crucial requirements in many jobs, but I agree it's odd if they've assessed you as "good" on them in previous reviews

Especially in the current climate it's entirely possible they've singled you out as a new parent - things like the huge petition for more maternity leave because of missed baby groups didn't exactly improve employers' attitudes, and nor will not contacting them since August - but good luck proving it with a company who seem to have got their ducks in a row

Unless you've got very long service or the job's really worth fighting for, it might be easier to simply look elsewhere

@sandragreen @NoSleepInTheHeat

I had a very difficult birth with 2.1 litres blood loss, forceps delivery, urinary incontinence after birth, had a catheter in for four weeks, several UTIs, vaginal infections, repeated trips to see gynecologists and on Monday I have an appointment in the hospital as my perineum might have to be "refashioned". It's been very tough and I have been referred to the postnatal mental health team.

I don't think its that bad that I haven't contacted them yet. I had to concentrate on my baby and my health.

Furthermore, I also reckon, since there is probably little I can do to keep my job, it's best to drag these meetings out as long as possible. The longer I'll stay employed with the company, the shorter my stint of unemployment will be, the better it will look on my CV and it will be easier to find a new job next year.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

I don't think they necessarily scored me down, I think they scored other employees up that they wanted to keep. I received a "good" in all categories, so the other employees must have received one or more "excellents" in the categories.

I think these categories aren't really objective and they can be easily manipulated to support whoever they want to get rid of for other reasons.

What objective criteria do you think they should use?

I don't think they necessarily scored me down, I think they scored other employees up that they wanted to keep

Yes, that could well be realistic

I get the rationale over trying to drag meetings out to shorten any period of unemployment, but won't that look a bit suspicious? And will it be an option anyway if they've already got their story together?

Either way I really wouldn't hang around getting those applications out ...

I'm sorry this happened to you OP.

Redundancy on maternity is indeed a minefield, however, they are able to make women on maternity redundant as long as they can show "fair process" and when there are more roles going, as long as they have consulted and marked etc they are entitled.

I agree, its disgusting behaviour when companies use the process as an excuse to get rid of pregnant women or those in maternity leave.

I was made redundant in August with Covid as a cover. The company had been trying to push me out for a while, since a new MD arrived and wanted to cut back roles to help him boost his profit shares. It turns out all the people he had mentioned before were magically made redundant at the first chance he got, using covid as an excuse.

It sucks doesn't it?! Youll be fine though. You don't want to work for a company like that.

@MrsPinkCock

Thank you, you get it. The company wouldn't have to justify the scoring to an employment tribunal and it's so easy to configure the scoring so that they can get rid of a specific person.

@Puzzledandpissedoff

I can't apply right now. My son is only three months old and I don't feel comfortable with putting him in full time childcare at this young age.