consultation and redundancy while I am on mat leave

[elportodelgato]

I'd be really grateful for some employment law advice about the following as I just don't know where I stand.

I am going on mat leave in a month or so and my EDD is 4 Jan. This week we have been informed that there are likely to be redundancies coming before the end of the financial year - the timescale which has been given is that consultation, interviewing and decisions etc will be taking place in Jan and Feb next year which is when I will be on mat leave, bf-ing and not really in a fit state to be having interviews.

I know that it is more difficult for my employer to make me redundant when I am on mat leave so I am not unduly concerned about being out of a job completely. However my real concern is that I won't have a fair and equal chance to apply for possible promotion or new roles within the new organisational structure etc. I would really like to return to work to a post I really want (rather than the one I have which I am not being stretched in).

Do they have any obligations to involve me in the possible process of restructuring, applying for new roles etc? Or is the onus on me to pull out all the stops and try to engage with this process while on mat leave?

Has anyone been through this before who can advise?

Thanks in advance!

You can speak to them re being included in this process however, you will then need to make the effort to attend the interviews etc, (unless they do a desktop selection process, which is unlikely).

If you are on maternity leave, you have priority right to be slotted into any suitable alternative positions available to avoid the redundancy.

But that is only going to be suitable alternatives - i.e. the same level as currently. If you are interested in using this process to get a promotion, you are going to have to engage with the interviews, etc, just like anyone else I'm afraid. You should be able to get a bit more flexiblity on details like time/day of interview, etc, but that's about it.

thanks for the advice, that's pretty much what I thought. It's just crap timing having to prep myself for fairly intensive interviews with a 6-8 week old baby, but hey ho.