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 😔

@Hurr8cane84

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.

Thanks 😊 I know it's crazy how short May leave is in places like the US 🙀

I will not be negotiating this with anyone at work until I know I'm at risk and have been invited to a consultation. Until then I'm keeping mum and positive.

Just asking for advice now as we'll find out in the next few weeks...

@AnUnoriginalUsername

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.

Lol right you do know any negotiations will only be taking place AFTER the redundant roles have been confirmed.

Why would I approach them now???😂🤣🙄

I agree with others that you would be better posting your query in the employment board where you will get replies from people who know their stuff. I did!
I am being made redundant while pregnant but before mat leave (and bit different as all the jobs are going so the rules about fair selection etc don't apply). What I do know is that you should be eligible for SMP now that your employer will pay and then claim back from the government so little hardship for them. This gives you the first 6 weeks at 90% of your normal pay then the 33 weeks at SMP rate. Normally your entitlement to contractual maternity pay disappears with your job, this is what will happen to me but my redundancy pay will mitigate for that.

As it sounds like you will be involved in a selection process I would definitely get some good advice when you know more- I'm no expert but this is the advice I've collected on my own situation from reputable sources. You can't be made redundant BECAUSE you're pregnant but you can be made redundant while pregnant if this is done following the correct process. If you're on maternity leave it's a bit different and there is some protection so that's why some posters are saying you might do well to start maternity early, in some ways.

Definitely ask OP - once you've reached the point where you're getting made redundant and you're negotiating your package, it's no holds barred as far as I'm concerned (and this is coming from an HR person who has to sit on the other side of these negotiations!) There's nothing to lose so you might as well go all in and see where you get to.

I agree with MrsPinkCock upthread that your best bet would be to ask for a without prejudice conversation and try to negotiate a settlement agreement that contains a payment equivalent to what you would have received as enhanced mat pay. As you'll be losing any actual entitlement to the enhanced portion of your mat pay, any agreed amount would be a goodwill payment or ex gratia, which means they may also be able to pay some or all of it free of tax on top of all the stuff you're actually entitled to like SMP, notice, holiday pay etc (caveat - I'm saying may be able to because it depends on specific circumstances).

I've seen this happen numerous times at various employers I've worked for, so it's not necessarily an uncommon approach and it's definitely worth asking for. It's literally a case of 'if you don't ask, you won't get' and you stand to lose nothing by starting the conversation.

I hate all this race to the bottom mentality where people are expected to be grateful for receiving the bare minimum and god forbid someone should get a quid more than someone else even when they're in a totally different situation and will see a much harder financial impact. Equality and equity aren't the same thing.

Some employers do actually want to support people through important times during their life, even if it's right at the end of the relationship, so you might even find it doesn't take a huge battle to get something more than the minimum you're entitled to.

YABY. You decided to get pregnant - and other employees may not be pregnant but that doesn't tmw an they are a lesser priority everyone has bills to pay etc

@Namechangeme1

YABY. You decided to get pregnant - and other employees may not be pregnant but that doesn't tmw an they are a lesser priority everyone has bills to pay etc

Enhanced maternity benefits exist for a reason. Or do you think they are unfair and shouldn't exist and pregnant women should get nothing since they chose to get pregnant???

@nerdsville

Definitely ask OP - once you've reached the point where you're getting made redundant and you're negotiating your package, it's no holds barred as far as I'm concerned (and this is coming from an HR person who has to sit on the other side of these negotiations!) There's nothing to lose so you might as well go all in and see where you get to.

I agree with MrsPinkCock upthread that your best bet would be to ask for a without prejudice conversation and try to negotiate a settlement agreement that contains a payment equivalent to what you would have received as enhanced mat pay. As you'll be losing any actual entitlement to the enhanced portion of your mat pay, any agreed amount would be a goodwill payment or ex gratia, which means they may also be able to pay some or all of it free of tax on top of all the stuff you're actually entitled to like SMP, notice, holiday pay etc (caveat - I'm saying may be able to because it depends on specific circumstances).

I've seen this happen numerous times at various employers I've worked for, so it's not necessarily an uncommon approach and it's definitely worth asking for. It's literally a case of 'if you don't ask, you won't get' and you stand to lose nothing by starting the conversation.

I hate all this race to the bottom mentality where people are expected to be grateful for receiving the bare minimum and god forbid someone should get a quid more than someone else even when they're in a totally different situation and will see a much harder financial impact. Equality and equity aren't the same thing.

Some employers do actually want to support people through important times during their life, even if it's right at the end of the relationship, so you might even find it doesn't take a huge battle to get something more than the minimum you're entitled to.

Thanks so much for your helpful response. It's such an eye opener to me seeing it from an HR perspective. Notes taken!😊😊😊

@lawandgin

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!

I agreee. It hilarious how some posters think it's useful to offer made up advice. 😅. It's a shame as there are some helpful and knowledgable posters but it's not always possible to work out which posts are theirs

Phone ACAS. Is my advice.

I haven’t RTFT but you’re getting some bad advice on here based on what people ‘think’ should happen. I’m a Head of HR. I can tell you that you are entitled to be paid statutory maternity pay if made redundant after the ‘qualifying week’ (15 weeks before your due date which is around 25 weeks pregnant). So you’re entitled to SMP and many employers in this situation will also pay their contractual enhanced maternity pay and I think that’s what you should be pushing for, the whole package.

Ignore those on this thread who say that’s unfair to employer employees, it really isn’t and will have no impact on what they get or are entitled to. You are in a vulnerable position as you’ve committed to maternity leave based on thinking you’ll have a certain amount of money coming in and have now had the rug pulled from under you. Just be bold and push for the whole package as a contractual right, you might not get it but nothing to lose by fighting for it.

You’re also entitled to be prioritised for any suitable alternative roles in the organisation so make sure you are aware of what other vacancies are available/coming up and if you think you can do one then push to be moved into it. The employer will class certain roles as ‘suitable alternatives’ but you have the right to argue that other vacancies are alternatives too if you think you can do them.

Finally, make sure you are clear on the what selection criteria they are using and ensure they are applying it fairly and not disadvantaging you because of your pregnancy, that would be discrimination. For example, if they are taking absence into account they can’t count any absence that you have had linked to your pregnancy. If your performance temporarily dipped and they’re taking that into account then you could also argue that’s pregnancy related.

Have a look at the maternity action website they have great advice on there.

Good luck with it all.

I’m not an expert but my experience of going through redundancy while on mat leave is this:
If you are on maternity leave when the redundancies are made and there is a suitable alternative role (not everyone doing your job is made redundant) they have to prioritise giving you the position over any other employee as maternity is protected.
If the redundancy is before you go on maternity leave then that does not apply. However at my company they were generous enough to defer the redundancy until after the maternity period had passed so you were still eligible for maternity pay and other company benefits whilst on maternity leave. I worked for a large organisation though so not sure if that is the same everywhere but it’s something to ask if you get put in that position.

Fingers crossed for you! It’s stressful going through this while on mat leave. I was in the first position and was actually made redundant despite other people being kept. I appealed and won and kept my job but going through that with a 3 month old definitely added to my PND

Quick update on this post!
Just wanted to say thanks for all your advice. Especially those who messaged me and encouraged me to go for it.

Turns out my role was one of those made redundant. During the consultancy period I did ask for the full enhanced maternity benefits seeing as they were making my role redundant only a few weeks away from my due date.
This was not part of my original redundancy package hence why I asked.

Well, good thing I did, because my employer agreed to pay my full enhanced maternity allowance in one lump sum alongside redundancy pay.
I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have got this extra money if I'd kept quiet.

If you're in a similar situation, it would hurt to ask.
You don't get what you don't ask for 😊

Great update! Hope you and baby are well

@SuperMonkeys

They need to be very careful when making pregnant ladies redundant, so they may be wary of doing so.

If the company is being forced to make redundancies across the board then they would be wrong to treat a pregnant woman any differntly just because she's pregnant, totally unfair to the rest of the staff.

I'm still shocked that the legal position in the UK is that in a redundancy situation, a pregnant person should be offered an alternative vacancy over other colleagues. Fingers crossed I'm never made redundant...

@JudgeJ that may sound unfair but it's the law. There are several laws in place that protect pregnant women who find themselves in a situation where they're being made redundant.

They have priority on alternative employment over other employees.

I wasn't aware of any of these until I found myself in this situation and did the research and spoke to several organisations.
Also, me exercising my rights did not take away from my colleagues who also have their own rights as employees.

It's the law and it's out in place for a reason. I'm guessing because of how vulnerable they are are and how discriminatory employers can be when it comes to hiring pregnant women or new mothers.

@MrsRockAndRoll

Great update! Hope you and baby are well

We're doing very well, thanks 😊

Fantastic update OP.

People criticising the OP have clearly never been put at risk of redundancy whilst 30 weeks pregnant. I've been in that position too OP and it's horrible. I was redeployed in the end, but having to go into consultation meetings three weeks post csection wasn't fun.

I was made redundant whilst pregnant twice. The first time was early pregnant so I got another job. The second time (different baby) I was about 25 weeks when they announced it. Because I was in employment at 15 weeks before due date they were obliged to pay me statutory Mat pay. However I kicked up a fuss about them making me unemployable so in the end they paid me all the enhanced pay that I would have received if I’d continued working there plus car allowance/pension contributions etc as a lump sum. So it’s worth asking and fighting your corner.