Just lost job at 28 weeks pg - any legal advice welcome

[Hersetta]

I was told on Thursday afternoon that I had lost my job, had a compromise agreement stuffed in my hands and marched out of the building never to return. Excuse was cost cutting but I can't help but think that their cutting costs by not paying me whilst I am on ML.

I am currently 28 weeks pg and the company's policy is full pay for 13 weeks and if you are off for 6 months you are entitled to a lump sum of a further 13 weeks a month after your return to work. I am on 3 months notice and they have said my paymet covers my PILON with a bit extra on top.

Just wanted to ask what I was entitled to materity pay wise as I do't think they have offered me enough.

Just a bit gutted as I have worked 13/14 hrs a day for the last 4 weeks plus 13 hrs a day all over Easter for no reward as we don't get paid for overtime so feel like they completely took advantage of me and then got rid of me as soon as all my deadlines were met. They really are scumbags of the highest order - FTSE 100 company in the FS industry.

I'm so sorry. Did they follow anything like a redundancy process and have you signed the compromise agreement?

Did you have a good record to date? Any reason to suspect thru wanted you ok?

You really need to see an employment lawyer. If you have been given a compromise agreement for it to be legally binding you must have independent legal advice before signing and your employer should pay an agreed amount towards that advice.

Have you seen a lawyer yet?

Suspect they wanted you out

Did you sign the comp agreement?

What is the alternative?
How many people do your job?
How many are being made redundant?
Are there any other redundancies?

You'll get SMP if you stayed but you can get MA which is almost the same minus the 90% for 6 weeks at the start.

Sorry they are such shits. Call the equalities commission and get some advice. Also worth looking on the ACAS website.

thanks - not technically made redundant. Suspect they will just employ somesone who is not as senior as I am and so costs less to employ.

No, haven't signed the compromise agreement yet and am seeing an employment layer first thing Monday morning. Already phoned for a form to claim MA - just need to get my MATB1 back from my company as I had already given it in.

Equalities comission is an interesting one as I was the only feamale working in the department so it may lead somewhere.

Being the only female in department is not relevant. Being the only person to be dismissed while pregnant is.

If you need an employment lawyer recommendation pm me but it looks like you're sorted.

I must say this all looks very odd.

Very odd -
any good employement lawyer should pick up up on preganancy/discrimination issue

Sounds very fishy to me - I am in a similar situation at the moment, the only person in the company (75 staff) to be put at risk of redundancy and the only pregnant employee and my job is not unique and no other redundancies are scheduled so I am seeking legal advice.

Don't sign or accept anything until you get legal advice, as others up above have said. Employers can get away with a lot (as I have recently discovered) but if it's redundancy, they are obliged to give you due notice, inform you what process they used to select your role and whether other roles were pooled with yours or not. At the very least, you should be able to negotiate your compromise agreement, maybe to get them to cover maternity pay? It all depends on how good they've been at covering their tracks demonstrating fair process and valid business reasons for your dismissal.