DH got redundant week before my maternity leave

[Viletta]

Sorry guys just need to complain, DH got redundant 1 weeks til my maternity leave, I'm week 37. The company was acquired and he was told he's not performing up to his potential and was dismissed right away. He worked for them for a year and a half so will only get his next pay, so technically he got one month notice and garden leave. I wonder if they will give him 2 week paternity leave pay if the baby comes before his last day. I supported him completely and took the news calmly but getting more and more worried. We'll survive on my pay for maybe 3 months, I got mortgage reduction. It's just so unfair. Now is the time to have paternity leave and enjoy meeting new baby, having stability in life, not running around trying to find another job. Sorry for the rant, so sad:((

That sucks OP. No advice but commiserating with you both.

Congrats on your forthcoming bundle of joy. The only good thing about this horrible work situation is he can be with you to help with baby for a few weeks til he gets his next job. Which he will.

From a paternity leave perspective - did he have his forms already submitted on time?

Worst case scenario, he can claim SPP from the government if he hits the criteria.

@ScottishStardust yes I was all already arranged. I don't think you can claim stationary pay if you held your employment for less than 2 years.

@Elieza yes this is definitely positive. I'm trying to stay positive and hope it's all for the best. However the fact that it came so out of the blue makes me a bit anxious about other bad things that can happen so unexpectedly, I even got a covid anxiety.

Ask his work to complete an SPP1 form - this refused paid paternity which he can use to claim elsewhere.

Im sorry that is really stressful
And awful timing. In the worst case if he doesn't have any luck with getting work, you can return to work and your partner can be full time with the baby. You are allowed to extend or shorten your leave just giving your employer a month's notice. If you can afford to stay home for a few months this might work. Probably not what you dreamed of but do-able in a pinch.

I’m so sorry OP, that is so stressful. Fingers crossed your DP finds something else soon.

Hi
Sorry to be pedantic but was he made redundant or was he dismissed? Because it seems like he was dismissed and not made redundant especially if there was no consultation period. How long has he worked for the firm?

@Gemc81 is right, this doesn't sound like redundancy as there are consultation periods and a process to follow.

He has been dismissed due to poor performance and as he has less than two years service they have done it immediately and paid his notice period.

This is an important distinction and he needs to be careful what he puts on application forms when he applies for new posts as it might contradict with his reference. It would be worth clarifying how his employer sees it. They may agree to call it end of contract. It depends on how poorly he worked and if they actually were trying to reduce staff numbers in the moat cost effective way.

Its crappy timing though and certainly not how you expected to start parenthood I'm sure. As other pp said, silver lining is he is going to be around more than he would have been.

Its worth checking out UC as once he us no longer in pay you may be entitled to something

Op, I’m sorry this is happening to you, and you will get through it. You both need to immediately look to see what benefits you can claim.

It does sound like he was fired with immediate effect, particularly as he was asked to leave immediately and no process was followed, so there is something more behind this. For a company to fire you and ask you to leave that day it is very serious.

He maybe isn’t telling you because he is embarrassed or doesn’t wish to admit it, but it will make a difference in terms of references for another job that they may be willing to give.

@Gemc81 his position was made redundant after the company was acquired by another one. He worked there for a year and a half, struggled a bit working from home since the lockdown, they decided not to reopen the office.

I saw email from hr saying it was a redundancy and there will be more people made redundant. He is highly skilled and his performance might have been not too but doubt it was that bad. There was some tension between him and his new manager. He is in a managerial position himself and his team loves him. Looks like they are cutting the middle management out. Anyway just really bad timing. We would only be able to survive a couple of months due to reduced mortgage and some savings, it won't work full time if u go back to work and he stays home. Hope he'll find something else soon.

Actually you may be right, his manager said redundancy and there was an email saying there would be redundancies but the hr email says termination of contract. I guess he was then fired after all. Poor DH he was so stressed out throughout pregnancy due to pandemic and now this. I'll try to be as supportive as possible although inside I'm really anxious.