Redundancy during maternity leave after arguing with managers

[OneWarmHazelQuail]

I am currently on maternity leave and have been put at risk of redundancy.

I had a big argument with my manager prior to going on maternity leave because I rightly or wrongly felt that I had been overlooked for promotion after disclosing my pregnancy. The grievance process concluded that this was not the case. My husband was furious at me for fighting against work and felt that I should have piped down and just gone on maternity leave.

Now, just as I am due to return to work from maternity leave, I have been put at risk of redundancy. Whilst there are a number of employees being made redundant, my position is quite unique and this feels target.

The organisation hasn't tried to place me in other roles despite it legally being a protected period. Its a big company and I think they know I wouldn't have the funds for a legal battle.

My husband is very unsympathetic as he feels its my own fault and now we're in financial oblivion.

I'm burning with rage at the injustice of the whole situation. The legal protections seem to mean nothing in practice.

YABU - You should not have fought with your management.

YANBU - It was right to fight for what I believe in despite the consequences for your family

A company where I once worked had a round of redundancies. One woman chosen was pregnant. It was very early in the pregnancy and she was not yet visibly pregnant or had any symptoms. She had told nobody about being pregnant. With union backing she launched a case against the company. After taking legal advice, the company settled rather than taking the case to tribunal.

For the benefit of everyone else reading this ALWAYS take out family legal cover before trying to conceive.

So many employers pull this stunt, knowing that after a year on maternity leave, few can afford legal advice.

How does one do this? Is it typically an employment benefit to opt into?

Yep, similar sort of thing happened to me too. I think it’s stats estimate around 52,000 women a year are made redundant when pregnant or on mat leave. It’s horrible & feels like a really public & humiliating rejection for something you’ve worked hard for, at one of the most vulnerable times of your life.

As others suggested, look at Pregnant then screwed (PTS) for advice. PTS hadn’t been established when it happened to me, instead I found info from an organisation called maternity action. They had a list of recommended lawyers/legal companies. I probably had 3 meetings at the most with the lawyers who essentially sent letters to my employer & negotiated a settlement. I went from being offered less than £1k from HR originally to having a package which I think totalled somewhere between £20-30k.

There was/is a cap on the amount of compensation type money they can give you (without going to court), I think that was £20k then my lawyer rightly included costs for things like professional development training and all my legal fees. I also wrote a reference for myself which we got them to agree in the contract that they’d send to any future employer reference requests I had. The package of money turned out to be massively important, it took me 5 months to find another job (I work in a niche field). I still don’t earn as much as I did there & it’s been over 10
years since it happened. As with many cases where women are abused & exploited in some way, I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement & can never tell anyone other than my husband the name of the organisation & what they did to me (& I suspect the other women there who never came back after mat leave). My anger has lessened now but I still feel
disappointed how they tainted that time with my new baby & caused me so much stress. I can’t imagine what HR/my manager told my old work colleagues about me because people who’d previously been close work mates & bought me gifts for my baby essentially blanked me when I went into the office a couple of months later. Knowing that I challenged the company legally when they wanted me to leave with a few hundred quid & definitely weren’t expecting me to put up a fight does give me satisfaction now that I fought back.
Try & take your emotion out of it & don’t let it ruin this time with your baby. Good luck x

A lot of people have mention a union. Op if you were previously part of a union, just double check you still are. I’m aware of some women in our company whose membership stopped during longer mat leave as their payments stop.

By all means call ACAS for advice. But tbh if your grievance was found not to be in your favour, i wouldn’t fight this on the basis of that. I doubt you could prove that you are being put at risk of redundancy now because of that.

Where you should have protection is that they should be doing their best to find an alternative role for you if one is available. Has the process reached the stage yet where there are the available jobs to apply for?

I was made redundant a few months after my first mat leave. As soon as i was put at risk, i put my energy into finding another job. Got one very easily and was able to even turn out an internal interview offer in favour of a nice redundancy payout and a bigger pay packet at my new company.

Focus on finding another job. And your DH is being unsupportive either way.

You’ve had some good advice here about challenging things.

To your husbands point. I think that it is much more likely that you were passed over for promotion and made redundant because you were pregnant, rather than because of your grievance.

It is common for companies to target women as they return from maternity leave because of the chance that they will have a second/need time off for baby/request part time etc.

Get in touch with maternity action. You don’t need legal funds. Employment Tribunals allow lay or self representation.

Your grievance may be a protected act meaning current possible sham redundancy could be an act of victimisation. Also speak to EASS. Good luck.

You are automatically entitled in law to have preferential treatment for any alternative jobs available within that group of companies. They MUST offer YOU if alternative work if it exists.

Hi OP. Look at Maternityaction.org and Pregnantthenscrewed.com as well as ACAS. You have certain protections while on maternity leave and all of these sites are good for advice. I wish you luck. You won't be the first that this has happened to.

Are you a trade union member?

It’s a job that is made redundant, not a person. So is this a reorganization? Removing a section or area of work they no longer wish to do? You should read up on your rights.