Redundancy during maternity leave

[NatalieC]

Hi

I am currently on OML and have been told that my job will be deleted as of 1st October. I will be on AML at this time. It is a very long story so won't bore you all with the details but some advice and guidance would be very greatly appreciated as I am very confused about what to do.

I was issued with a redundancy letter at the beginning of August. My solicitor thinks that my employer has to wait until I return from ML before issuing this but from what I have read on the internet, I am not so sure. Can anyone confirm what is the correct procedure?

Also if I return to work on 20th Sept, I will get paid until 5th November even though my job will be deleted on 1st October due to them not issuing my redundancy letter on time. Do I take the money and run or do I insist that I want to take AML and fight my case for unfair dismissal? My solicitor thinks I have a case but has told me it will be very expensive and could take some time.

This situation is making me completely miserable and has ruined my ML so any helpful advice would be gratefully received.

Is the whole department being made redundant or just some people? Is there a site closure?

Do you want to take redundancy?

Thanks Marchpane. There was a restructure. 30 posts were deleted and 27 recreated. However, I work on a different site within the department. I was the only one issued with redundancy as everyone else has similar posts to move in to. I am the assistant manager and recruited a new team member just before I went on ML due to the amount of work we had on (this was in DEcember). In April they then decided the workload had decreased significantly and my post was no longer needed. The excuses they have used are weak as it is based on a potential downturn in work and I can prove that my team have the most amount of work we have ever had to deal with.

I was gutted initially about being made redundant but have come round to the idea of being a SAHM. Now that the Working Tax Credit system has changed, we will be better off with me not working now as we will not qualify for any childcare costs. But I do love my job and another job has come up (not similar to mine) that sounds interesting but is in a different office.

To complicate matters, my housing is tied in with job so am waiting to hear if I will be rehoused and will have to start paying rent.

Just to clarify, two other posts that have disappeared are manual staff. One was forced to leave before the restructure and one has been suspended and it looks like she will be sacked.

Change your solicitor immediately. If the redundancy takes effect while you are on maternity leave there's no reason for your employer to pretend it hasn't and wait months to issue you with a redundancy notice. You should be involved and communicated with just like your colleagues.

On what basis did your solicitor tell you you have a case for unfair dismissal? Was it an unfair procedure used and/or do you think the redundancy wasn't genuine?

As a woman on maternity leave, if your post is redundant and there is a suitable alternative, you should be offered it over and above other staff. It sounds as though that's a possibility, is that right? If there is a suitable job that could have been offered you, then you do possibly have a case for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination, yes. But if you're happy to be made redundant you may not want to bother with the stress and expense of pursuing it, I don't know.

Agree with flowery. You should have been given priority over other staff due to maternity leave - your solicitor sounds clueless.

Because you've decided you don't want to back you're in a very strong position to play hard ball. But only if you want to. If you feel they've offered you a fair settlement then take it. If not you'll need to raise a grievance in the first instance.

What do you think you want to do?

I don't think this is as clear cut as it looks.

You say you on a different site. How close is the other site?

It could be two sets of redundancy ongoing at the same time.

So the 27 at the other site and you on your site. Depending on the distances involved there is nothing wrong with not giving you a job over the others if its 200 miles away but a mile away would be.

I'm not sure there was any indication it was clear cut tbh, if you are referring to the issue of alternative employment seeyoukay. Yes if the other site is very near it's possible there may have been a suitable alternative, and if there was, and this wasn't offered to Natalie, then that may be unfair dismissal/sex discrimination.

Natalie hasn't given enough information to make a judgement as to whether there was a suitable role. The reason she needs to change her solicitor is because it's completely wrong to say her employer can't issue her with a redundancy notice until her maternity leave is up. If her job is redundant now, it's redundant now and there's no need to pretend otherwise, it's important to keep her in the loop. That involves finding a suitable alternative if there is one and offering it to her.

Natalie do you feel there was another job available that would have been suitable for you?

Thank you very much everyone for your input. The other site is 3 miles away. I have accommodation tied in with my current position which complicates matters further as no other job will give me accommodation. The other job that came up was not similar to my current role.

I have told the solicitor to put everything on hold as I was dubious about the information he gave me. I also informed my employers that I will return to work on 20th, take 2 weeks annual leave and then accept the redundancy. I feel better about this as I will receive some money and lose the stress of taking it to a tribunal. However, I am also drafting a grievance letter about this. I'm not sure what outcome I am looking for but I want them to know that they do not have justifiable reasons for deleting my post and the process was not carried out in the correct manner.

Once again thank you for your advice. I think I needed some objective input and to write it down to help make my decision.

Are you a union member? They would be able to help. Also, get free advice from CAB.

I came out of the Union a couple of years back because my Rep was useless - am regretting that now. I will try CAB if I need any further info but they are really busy in my area and I can't even get an initial appointment at the moment. Many thanks Comtessa.

Nothing at all wrong in putting in a grievance but I do think you need to have a bit more of a think about what outcome you want from it before you go ahead and put it in. What outcome you want will or should influence how you word it and what you say, and they are certain to want to find out what outcome you want early in the proceedings.

Hmm. Rejoin quickly for the free legal advice you'll get by going direct to the union?

Hi Flowery. My main outcome is to secure housing in the area that I am in now. However, there is not much around here. I am not sure if I can ask for more money or my job back. Perhaps you could please advise on this.

Cometessa, you have to be with the union for 4 weeks before you can use their services. I will be redundant then and presumably not able to use their reps/legal team.