Covid 19 and work/redundancy help

[Wingingit07]

Hi Guys,

Just wanted a bit of advice.

Whilst our office has been operating from home with a few employees furloughed we have still continued to trade (we are allowed)

In my team its two people myself and 1 other. I am senior (and pregnant) thus on a higher wage then the other employer but been working there longer.
A new system will be put in place in June which will mean our workload will reduce as it won't be so manual, which they'll probably say redundancy (hypothetical at the mo) for 1 person as they've made it clear that they won't be able to afford everyone upon return. What I'm worried about is that I'm due for maternity in October and the other person won't be made redundant, because when I'm off on maternity it'll mean they'll be nobody in that department so I am an easy option.

Do I have any stance on this or will it just be a case of one of those situations that the company can use the new systems/higher salary the reason for redundancy but deep down I know the reason will be because I was the easy option as it would leave the team on 0 people?

Any advice would help, just so annoying knowing I'd be the easy option 😕

I would approach citizen advice ( phone lines etc) still open and see how they suggest you handle it.

Can you call them with a hypothetical situation though or does the advice need to be off the back of something that is happening? X

You're very protected from redundancy during maternity leave. You have some protection during pregnancy but more when you're on mat leave. Basically if there is a suitable position for you, you must be given it without being interviewed etc. You basically trump anyone else up for redundancy who isn't pregnant and could be put in the same role. If you're made redundant whilst pregnant your employer has to categorically prove that you being pregnant has not influenced their decision at all as pregnancy discrimination is illegal. I have recently been in a similar situation but due to lockdown etc the procedure has been postponed to autumn by which time I'll be on mat leave and they won't be able to make me redundant. Maternity Action website has loads of useful advice.

Also, they can't make you redundant because you're on a higher salary alone. They make the post redundant, not the person.

How long have you been there? Lots more rights if 2 or more years.

Thanks guys really helpful and will look at meternity action website. 1 and quarter years annoyingly :(

So difficult when there's just 2 people in the team I honestly feel the easy option :(

I was made redundant on maternity leave so they can definitely do that as long as they have a valid business reason.

Yep I know they can do it if they have a valid business reason... That was all part of my original question. Whilst there is a valid business reason to make one of us redundant, I know my upcoming maternity will be taken into consideration. They won't want to make the other person redundant knowing I will be going off on maternity leave as it'll leave them with 0 workers. My original question was looking for advice to see if it would be a case of 'suck it up they'll blame it on something else' and it'll be hard to prove that my upcoming maternity was also a factor... X

But if they make you redundant because you're going on mat leave even though you and the other person are both able to do the same job then you are being discriminated against. They'd have to make the other person redundant (unless they had other skills that made them better for the role etc) and then employ maternity cover for you. Although you can be made redundant on mat leave, you can only be made redundant if there is no job for you to do. If 2 of you are competing for the same job and are equal in skill level etc then you should be given the job. I think that's the law. There was a new bill put through parliament last July giving more rights against redundancy for pregnant and new mums. It's on the gov.uk website.

Make sure you're in a union and if they try to make you redundant get the union involved and make sure they are absolutely clear it has nothing to do with your pregnancy. Any inkling that it does then you can take legal action.

@APD1981thats really useful thank you

You're welcome. I researched it a lot, spoke to my union, and spoke to a family member who was a head teacher that twice had to role out redundancies so he knew the procedures around it (I'm a teacher, too). You're also protected for 6 months after returning to work after maternity leave following the new laws from last July. It made me feel a lot better after I'd got all my info together!