Asking to be made redundant instead of going down the maternity discrimination route? Advice needed!

[Poppysmummy92]

Hello!

Some back story -

I joined my employer in December 2020. In January 2021 I told my manager I was 20 weeks pregnant and after that it went VERY downhill. My manager left unexpectedly and didn’t tell anyone, so for weeks I was trying to find out what I was meant to be doing and who I was reporting to as at the time it was a 100% WFH environment so I was completely on my own. I didn’t really get any contact from anyone until March 2021 when I finally was given a stand in manager who swiftly hired my maternity cover and I went on maternity leave in April 2021. In October 2021 I had an email saying they had appointed a new manager and he would be in touch but I didn’t hear anything. In November 2021 I emailed my contact and said could someone please contact me as I was due back in January 2022 and I had no idea who my manager was and what I was coming back too but nobody replied. In December 2021 I raised a formal complaint with HR as I genuinely believe as soon as I told my employer I was pregnant they wrote me off, and the communication since I’ve been off has been shocking.

So anyway, fast forward to today and the new manager has finally been in touch. He was prompted off the back of my grievance! He called and said he was sorry and he would look at options for my return and look into the grievance. I didn’t have any review meetings during my time at the company so I’ve never been given the opportunity to tell anyone that the job is not for me and it’s not something I want to return to and I told the new manager I wasn’t keen to return. Again, he has vanished and isn’t replying to my emails!

I get the feeling he is waiting for me to get fed up and resign. But I want some sort of compensation for the stress they put me under and their incredibly poor practice. I really want to ask them to make me redundant, but is that even possible?!

I’m just wondering if anyone had any advice on what I can do. The grievance route will be very very long winded, I work in employee relations I know the process to an extent. I just want to make it easier for everyone and leave, but not empty handed!

Any advice I’d be forever grateful this is causing me daily stress!!

I doubt your agreement contains any admission of liability.

They just took the opportunity to get rid of you quickly and easily.

You sound like a nightmare employee.

@berksandbeyond

Meanwhile they’ll think twice about hiring women of child bearing age now, because you’re a CF. Brilliant!

yes well done OP, you’ve made us all look like a shit employee option, thanks

I went to an employer lawyer who looked at the case, agreed I have been discriminated and asked my employer for a settlement agreement which they agreed immediately and I’ve had many emails of apologies since for their conduct.

If you’ve been offered a settlement agreement it’s very, very unlikely anyone has been apologising for anything. But feel free to continue writing bollocks if you want to.

I bet they put forward an agreement! Must have been over the moon. You didn't want to work there and had hardly been there. Yes the communication was poor but you know there had been a number of handovers involved so you could have made an allowance for that. Instead you went straight for the extract some cash angle and in doing so you've made life harder for any woman they employ. They will hark back to you, the woman who didn't want the job but insisted you were owed money for existing.

Your role is still there so redundancy is not an option.
As you have raised a grievance you could have a without prejudice conversation and go down settlement route, however I think you would be lucky to get more than a couple of months pay. It can be stressful. I would just give notice tbh

If your update is true, they were probably just glad to get rid of you.

Did they fuck.

@Poppysmummy92 did you think this through? In coming back to update and resurrecting this thread you do realise that you are now going to get hundreds of new people telling you you’re a CF and the ones who’ve commented already coming back to tell you they still think you’re a CF?

Sorry miss3d the update. Be very surprised to see employer send emails apologising or admitting liability through a settlement process.

Something slightly similar happened at my office. They paid a settlement to get rid of the person. They were absolutely not in the wrong or sorry, but the settlement was less than it would have cost them in fees to dispute it.

That's probably what happened here, paying you get them to sod off.

Sorry you were treated so badly (in real life and on here by some!). I hope pregnant then screwed have been helpful too. All the best OP.

It was likely a without prejudice settlement.

Christ. You still sound like a CF who knows nothing about employment law, and grabby AF.

Bet your employer was delighted they hired you 🙄

Settlement to get rid of you…

You are shocking. You went into a new job at 16 weeks pregnant without mentioning it to anyone, then didn’t tell them until 20 weeks…and you are butt hurt because you don’t know your manager and there has been a bit of change.

No wonder working mothers have to fight so hard in the workplace for respect, it’s because of clowns like you

One word. Disgraceful.

Good result OP - ignore all the race to the bottom forelock tuggers - they are why employment isn't better for us all in the UK. No doubt they are the same people moaning no-one wants to work at their shit companies for crap pay and conditions.

@Wannakisstheteacher

If they wrote you off it’s because you told them a month in that you were 20 weeks pregnant. If you’d wanted a solid relationship you’d have been honest with them from the start.

What an uninformed comment with no understanding of maternity rights. If one is seeking maternity benefits, legally one needs to tell their employer they are pregnant at least 15 weeks before the due date. At 20 weeks, OP was within that. They are a variety of reasons, other than the legal right, a woman doesn’t share with her employer before that, such as previous miscarriage, health issues or just not being any of their fucking business at that point.

OP - not dissimilar situation happened to me, employer forgot about me. A year is a long time in my industry, but still! Anyways, they knew they didn’t have a legal leg to stand on so we went through a legal settlement and they paid for my legal counsel. It was a small legal settlement of, I think, 2 months pay and my existing RSUs bought back (so I got cash) but given I didn’t even want to go back, it was fine for me.

You don't make a person redundant you make the role redundant, which means that you can't recruit to it (or a role substantially resembling it) for 3 years after the redundancy.

TBH you sound like a CF; it costs a lot to recruit & train an employee and then to cover maternity leave. If you want to leave resign, the company owes you nothing.

@Imknackeredzzz

Sigh... it’s bloody chancers like this that put companies off hiring women.

This.

Ahh, you’re update makes me so happy! I had to join MN to comment as much.

Firstly, I’m pleased that you got the outcome that you were after. People on this thread were very quick to come out with baseless comments about how ‘you’re the reason women struggle in the workplace’ etc, but neglected to consider how this company will (or at the very least, should) have learnt a stark lesson in how not to treat pregnant women.

Secondly, the anger that these scummy mummies will be feeling at hearing that you’ve been paid off is just fantastic! Most people on MN are literally the worst. Your victory is their defeat, and I applaud you for achieving that 👏👏👏

I'm an HR Director. They paid you off because you were a pain in their ass. The time involved in dealing with vexatious complaints and grievances often makes it worth settling. I'm not sure how much you received. I would have been tempted to fight your claim on principle (whilst apologising "wholeheartedly for the unexpected changes with their management structure and the unfortunate and resultant poor communication. Lessons would be learnt"), but if it was anything less than £10k, it made sense for them to pay you to disappear.

I'm astonished that you started a new job in a new company whilst quite far along with a pregnancy. You would have added very little value to the company in the few months you were actively employed. Then you created a big resourcing issue by creating a vacancy that they could only temporarily fill on the basis that they were required to keep your job open. And you accrued your holiday entitlement and benefits whilst off, adding additional expense that you didn't really earn.

You really shouldn't be feeling proud of (or vindicated by) this outcome.