12 weeks & redundancy

[ladymia]

Hi everyone

I have also posted this in employemnt issues but wondered if anyone here had any experience of this?

I am 12 weeks pregnant at at risk of redundancy, my employment will seize at the end of December.

My due date is mid-March so i will still be entitled to SML.

However, i have been wondering when I should let them know i am pregnant.

I am a little scared if I tell them now they might find a way for me to go sooner so they wouldn't have to pay the SML.

I have not yet got a bump so there is no real urgency to tell them yet

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Isn't SMP paid by the state?? It comes via your employer, but I don't think it's money out of their pocket.

If there is already a genuine redundancy situation in existence, the fact that you are pregnant legally doesn't make any diffrerence to whether you are selected or not. In other words, a pregnant woman can still be made redundant fairly.

of course it is NOT permissible to make you redundnat, or to select you because you are pregnant - this is a type of sex discrimination.

If you tell your employer, one of three things might happen:

1. They completely disregard the fact you are pregnant and make the decision as they would have before anyway.
2. They might tread more carefully around you because you are pregnant and are slightly more likely to have a claim against them.
3. They might be more tempted to get rid of you if they know you are going to be going on maternity leave soon.

Only you know how above board your employer is. Personally, I would probably tell in the hope of getting the sympathy vote, but I don't know how you think your actual employer will react.

There is quite a helpful guideline here: www.maternityaction.org.uk/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/redundancy.pdf

citydweller - most of SMP is recoverable from the state by the employer you are right.

thanks ladies

no i am not hoping they keep me on now that i am pregnant i had planned to take a year off anyways and had saved a year's salary.

as far as i knew SML was paid by the employer but ML was paid by the state.

i am just hoping they still make me redundant at the date they say they would and pay my maternity leave.

So, there are a couple of things:

Statutory maternity pay - this is paid by your employer (but they get a rebate from the government for most of it. You will get this provided you are still employed 15 weeks before your due date.

Maternity leave (if that is what you mean by ML) - this is the time off you are entitled to, during which you will be paid statutory maternity pay

Maternity allowance - if you are not employed or don't meet the criteria for statutory maternity pay, you will receive this benefit instead.

I think that the risk is very low that they would make you redundant any sooner. It would be a foolish thing for them to do because if they did that you would clearly have a claim for discrimination. Meantime, there is no reason why you shouldn't just stay quiet about the pregnancy if you are worried.

Hi,

You are entitled to SMP if you are made redundant and stop being employed (ie after your notice) after your qualifying week. This is 15 weeks before baby is due (same as when you officially have to tell them by).

I got that from maternity action website. I'm in a similar situation, but I might on mat leave before they sort it out....

Hope that helps....

thanks everyone!

BonaDea, this is what I figured I think it would be too risky for the to now tell them to leave sooner.

I think I will wait another 2 weeks or so and then tell them. I had a MC earlier in the year so i have been taking my time letting people know.

Good luck with everything. If all goes well you will get a nice big redundancy check!

*cheque (what, am I American?!)

Thanks! i am not getting a huge payout nor a generous maternity pay.

Luckily I have prepared for the worst (ito. work)! :)