Calling for advice from employment solicitors/lawyers and anyone with experience on redundancy/relocation.my case is detailed here pls help

[Emmz0]

I'm on maternity leave this year. Been offically told I'm at risk. A number of posts in our section are being relocated. We were told by default they have been relocated unless justification can be made as to why a post could stay in current location.

An exercise was carried out which required postholders to fill out form with their managers to determine what work has to be done in current location. I was not able to complete form in the time allocation given as my baby ill and hospitalised. I raised this saying I was unable to meet the deadline because of situation and was told that the process would still be continued.

Later on in some documentation i was sent it was written that anyone who did not complete form, their post would automatically be relocated. I queried this in terms of what happened in my case and was told that by default all posts relocated and they could not justify and reasons to keep my type of posts in current location.

We have been given numerous options:

1. Take voluntary redundancy
2. Look/apply for other jobs in the company
3. Apply for remaining posts in current section the current location
4. Relocate - This is not an option for me due to family in current location.

I have now been forwarded a limited no of posts in our department that I can apply for along with others.

Have I got a case for employment tribunal / legal case etc. The reason i'm asking as I was told by a couple of people that they can't do this as i'm on maternity leave while others say that they have to offer me jobs they have first without competition.

I'm really very confused in terms of legal rights and what i can do

Also, how does redundancy apply when on maternity leave? Am i still paid AML and OML then made redundant.

Sorry to hear your baby was poorly.

How long did your firm give you to fill out the paperwork and did you update them and complete it as soon as you could?

Are you a member of a union?

What outcome do you want; return to your job on the same terms as before? When would you like to return?

This could be a complicated one.

First issue: Indirect sex discrimination can occur when someone is disadvantaged for a reason which - although it appears to be non-gender discriminatory - is most likely (to the point of being close to inevitable) to affect one gender. And if this had happened to me I would be tempted to raise merry hell with HR, stating that because they have not taken into account your position as being absent due to maternity leave (in terms of filling in request forms and so on) then they are falling foul of sex discrimination laws. But it is not black and white - especially if they can demonstrate good reasons for the deadlines and that they bent over backwards to accommodate those on OML and that you were indeed on OML not AML, etc. If the process had been discussed with union reps or employee reps before being implemented then again they have counter-arguments.

Second issue: If there are suitable alternative posts in the current location, then you should be allocated one of these if you request it and are capable of performing the role, although the instances of male employees counter-claiming sex discrim in these circs is rising, and it is possible that the influence of 'section 10' preferential treatment may be starting to wane in terms of employment tribunal decisions.

Normally when I read the posts on here I am pretty confident of what a lawyer would say and what the outcome would be, but in a case such as this I think the devil will be in the detail and the exact timings, dates, and so on. I think you really need to see a specialist employment lawyer for this one.