To ask employer for extra financial support

[girlsallowed21]

I'm currently pregnant in my 3rd trimester (27 weeks) and looking forward to a nice maternity leave...

The company I work for just dropped a massive bombshell on us and basically there's going to be lots of job cuts.
I'm devastated. We don't know who's affected yet but it just really sucks!
We'll find out in a few weeks but in the meantime I'm just keeping my fingers crossed I'm safe.

I've been with them just over 3years and the maternity benefits are really good. You get 32 weeks fully paid (the normal 6 weeks plus 26 weeks additional as employee benefits).

If I get made redundant I will lose all of that. Which is a huge difference!
So I've gone from feeling relaxed to now stressing tf out about the future. Last thing I needed was to worry about finding work immediately after having my baby.

DH and I already have a toddler and this would be baby number 2. So it's such a huge financial strain on us.

Has anyone ever been in this situation before? What can I do? What are my rights?

Would I BU to ask my employer to provide some extra financial assistance in case I'm one of the people being made redundant??
So stressed and honestly frustrated as nobody saw this coming.

Thanks all 😔

I was to be made redundant during mat leave, think a month in. Received full mat pay and redundancy pay. Also vaguely remember something about 25 weeks... Check with HR, they should have a policy.

All of the people saying asking for more is BU - have you never been through redundancy before? IME it's completely normal to negotiate the terms of severance package - why wouldn't you try to get the best settlement you could? Your responsibility is to your family, not your employer's bottom line.

If u will be 25 weeks or more pregnant, you will still be entitled to SMP (at least, I'm not sure about the 'extra' maternity pay your contract offers) on top of any redundancy money offered. Have a look at how much notice they have to give you of your redundancy (don't forget any consultation period that they may have to go through) and you can then figure out how likely you are to be 25 weeks along by that date.

I was in a similar situation four years ago and it all worked out well - because of the cinsultation and notice period, I ended up with the same entitlement to maternity pay, plus a nice redundancy payout. Once that ran out I went on contributory jsa for six months, so didn't end up going back to work until my dd was 20 months old, was less broke than during my first mat leave andhad a bit of time to upskill and get a better job at the end of it. I'm not saying thos to boast, just to demonstrate that redundancy isn't always a negative experience.

These threads give me serious rage. Stop giving the OP advice based on what you think is right or wrong and your non-existent knowledge of employment law!

OP, there are additional protections in place. Speak to ACAS, maternity action, pregnant then screwed or even pay for an hours consultation with an employment lawyer. Don't ask the people of MN!

Same thing happened to me whilst pregnant and I got 5k.

Got redundancy pay and maternity pay all paid in one lump sum.

Was brilliant!!

Stop giving the OP advice based on what you think is right or wrong

This is AIBU, not an employment tribunal. If someone wants legal advice but posts in AIBU, frankly they don't deserve good advice.

@HeyDemonsItsYaGirl it may be AIBU, but the number of people exclaiming that the protections put in place for pregnant women and those on mat leave is "discrimination against non-pregnant women" is seriously screwed up.

If they saw how these women were treated, they might change their minds.

OP as some PPs have pointed out, as you’re already 27 weeks pregnant then you’ll be entitled to your full SMP allowance (and to be automatically placed into any suitable alternative vacancies, if any are available). You’ll also get notice and holiday (or pay in lieu) plus statutory redundancy and any contractual enhancements.

There is another option though. You can ask to speak to the company on a without prejudice basis (and/or using the protected conversation legislation under S111A Employment Rights Act, although that technically doesn’t cover pregnancy) and ask whether they’d be willing to consider a settlement agreement with enhanced pay. It’s not an open discussion so theoretically can’t be used against you and they can’t detract from your statutory or contractual rights anyway even if they did take badly to the suggestion.

It’s actually really common for enhanced payments to be made during redundancy processes. There would be a benefit to the company too, as if you signed a SA then you’d be waiving your right to sue them, so they’d have some comfort that you couldn’t bring a discrimination claim if they did dismiss you. Despite it still being legal to dismiss pregnant employees, a lot of employers still worry about it, so if you genuinely think you’re likely to be one of the employees to go then it’s worth considering.

One option you have is to go on maternity leave soonish, I think you can start at 29 weeks if you want. That way you are guaranteed your enhanced maternity leave and if redundancy is the case it will be added to the end of your leave I think

@ThatIsMyPotato

Yes you can and should. Eg if there is a team of 5 being cut to a team of 3 then OP should be offered one of those roles above anyone else.

No. This is false, you have missed a nuance of the law.

If it is a pool situation, i.e. a team size is being reduced, the pregnant woman should go through the same assessment criteria as everybody else. It would be discrimination against the non pregnant people if she were automatically given one of the roles in the reduced pool.

However, what the law actually states, is that the pregnant woman, has priority over any alternative roles in the organisation that may come up. In this case they should be offered the alternative and without an interview process. But there is no priority when they are in a pool with peers currently all performing the same role of which numbers are to be reduced.

[quote lawandgin]@HeyDemonsItsYaGirl it may be AIBU, but the number of people exclaiming that the protections put in place for pregnant women and those on mat leave is "discrimination against non-pregnant women" is seriously screwed up.

If they saw how these women were treated, they might change their minds. [/quote]
Thanks so much for the different sites you mentioned above. I've bookmarked them 😀
I'm shocked to hear that people think pregnant women getting partial/full maternity benefits on redundancy (which I consider extra to what normal employees are getting) is discrimination.

But it's the employer's discretion and I can't make them give me anything that wasn't already my legal entitlement.

@Aprilx thanks for correcting me, that makes sense. Someone falsely reassured me when I was in similar position to OP then it seems!

My current company paid a pregnant employee full maternity entitlement plus redundancy and she hadn't gone on maternity leave yet. In a previous job, I was made redundant whilst on maternity. I received the rest of my maternity pay and redundancy. I was also on private health care through work and they continued to pay for this beyond my redundancy as I was seeing a consultant at the time. Don't stress, if you are given notice, do ask for additional support on top of any entitlements as some employers have compassion!

If you don’t get maternity pay from your employer you WILL definitely be entitled to Maternity Allowance. It’s currently £151 a week for up to 38 weeks and you would get redundancy pay from your current company too. You may not be too badly off depending on those amounts and shared parental leave with your partner may also be a good option.

Would I BU to ask my employer to provide some extra financial assistance in case I'm one of the people being made redundant

Yes. You’ve only been with them three years and if you have a toddler may have worked the full three years anyway.

It would be very unfair to request extra, everyone should be treated the same. You may not want to job hunt but it doesn’t actually stop you.

@IceCreamAndCandyfloss

Would I BU to ask my employer to provide some extra financial assistance in case I'm one of the people being made redundant

Yes. You’ve only been with them three years and if you have a toddler may have worked the full three years anyway.

It would be very unfair to request extra, everyone should be treated the same. You may not want to job hunt but it doesn’t actually stop you.

Thanks for your input. My son is nearly 5 and had him before joining this company. Worked the full 3 years. I've never had to look up their maternity policies until now so just trying to understand what my rights are.

@LondonSE

My current company paid a pregnant employee full maternity entitlement plus redundancy and she hadn't gone on maternity leave yet. In a previous job, I was made redundant whilst on maternity. I received the rest of my maternity pay and redundancy. I was also on private health care through work and they continued to pay for this beyond my redundancy as I was seeing a consultant at the time. Don't stress, if you are given notice, do ask for additional support on top of any entitlements as some employers have compassion!

That's amazing! Thanks for all the PP who have shared examples like these. Never even imagined full maternity entitlement was an option. Good to know.

Based off what I've read, there should be a policy in place and I shouldn't have to ask. I'll do just that.

Thanks again, everyone who's been helpful!😃

Are you sure you will lose maternity pay?
My work will pay the full maternity package on top of redundancy pay providing I have notified them before any announcements are made.
I have been at risk of redundancy for 2 years- but no official announcements.
So has soon as I found out I was pregnant i told them as knowing my luck it would be announced next week.

I also do not have same advantage as other non-pregnant employees who could jump back onto the job market straightaway if they wanted to.

That's not the responsibility of your employer though. It's unfortunate that you Amy lose your job but your pregnancy and future job prospects are your own.

@DoLallyTapMum

If you don’t get maternity pay from your employer you WILL definitely be entitled to Maternity Allowance. It’s currently £151 a week for up to 38 weeks and you would get redundancy pay from your current company too. You may not be too badly off depending on those amounts and shared parental leave with your partner may also be a good option.

Surely op has passed the point in her pregnancy where she's entitled to maternity pay?

A company I worked for made everyone redundant (bought over) they paid 4 weeks for every year to all as redundancy and my pregnant collegue got her maternity pay as well. Hopefully you get similar.

If they're making redundancies it's unlikely they're in a position to be handing out extra money.

And tbh. If it's been announced there are redundancies being made, and someone comes and asks for more money, I'd be making them redundant. There's no clearer way of saying "I'm not a team player" than asking for extra when it's been made clear there's not enough to go around.

You’ve had some sensible advice but also some seriously wrong advice.

AIBU is absolutely not the place for this question.

There is additional protection available to you, and you are within your right to ensure that it followed. It’s irrelevant that some posters on here think you’re being unreasonable and discriminatory to the non-pregnant. It’s the law whether people like it or not.

Talk to ACAS or pregnant and screwed. They will give you proper advice about your rights.

Good luck x

Speak to ACAS but keep your head down until you know what is happening, don't ask for extra before you know what they are doing.

Re the job search, you could start searching, pregnancy won't bar you from it if you are prepared to shorten mat leave. Where I live now, mat leave is 6 weeks and no pay! So I now think of the UK system as unbelievably generous but I am saying this because many women all over the world cope with much shorter time at home. And you could do it too, depending on how determined or desperate you are.