Risk of redundancy while on maternity leave

[Nickpot]

Hi everyone,

I?m new to this but was wondering if anyone has any advice on the following please?

Two days before I was due to go on Maternity leave (I worked as Business Development Administrator for 3 days a week), I was advised I was at risk of redundancy due to my role no longer existing following a restructure. This was fair enough and they advised me that as I was due to go on Maternity leave and given my excellent service, they would like to propose making an exception in my case and agreeing to an extended period of notice with me the duration of my maternity leave. During this period, they would continue to seek out any suitable alternative vacancies that might become available and offer them to me with a view of me returning to work to the new role at the end of my maternity leave period.
My SML finishes at the end of this week and by the 21st April, I had not had any contact at all from employers during my maternity leave so I rang them to ask what the situation was as I needed to know if I was going to be made redundant so that I could use the time of my AML to find a new job.
During this conversation I advised them that I wasn't happy that I knew of 3 jobs through hearsay (HR Co-ordinator, Client Support Executive and Special Projects Administrator) that had become available while I was on maternity leave but had not been informed of any of them and she said she had thought of that herself. I was called into a meeting and they apologised for the lack of contact during my leave but explained there had been a gap in HR support between the sudden departure of our previous HR Manager and Rachel (HR co-ordinator) starting her role. While I understand this, it does not help me in my situation and they now told me they hadn't felt that the roles were suitable due to my current skills set and because they were full time. I really wanted the HR Role and would have considered going full-time had I been offered it. At this meeting, all they offered me were two separate jobs working 2 days a week for minimum wage which would have meant a drop in a days wages and a drop from 7.17 an hour.
I went home to think about my options and decided my only option would be to accept redundancy. I rang and confirmed this but after I received the minutes from the meeting and the form to confirm I would be accepting redundancy and read everything back I was really quite angry about how the situation had been handled and me not being offered the other positions to at least give me a choice. I e-mailed Rachel and advised her I wouldn't be signing the form until they could please give me some answers on why they felt I wasn't suitable for the jobs as I now feel this was said as a cover up for not offering me them in the first place.
I have now put in a grievance letter and have been called to a meeting tomorrow. Since starting the grievance procedure, they have now sent me the job spec for the one of roles I mentioned earlier and asking if I feel it is suitable (even though this role had already been filled and they told me originally they thought I wasn?t suitable!). I don't feel it is suitable as it is full time and the only one I would have considered going back to work full time for is the HR role but I still feel I should have been given the option!
I feel this meeting should be about how they have originally dealt with everything and why they didn?t offer me them in the first place and not about whether I now feel a job is suitable. Am I correct in how I?m dealing with this? I thought the answer would probably to agree on a compromise agreement if possible.

I know this is a long one but I would really appreciate any advice on this before my meeting tomorrow.

Thanks in advance.

One thing to get straight, they were not obliged to offer you any of those jobs. As a woman on maternity leave, if your role is made redundant and a suitable alternative is available, you should be offered it. But suitable alternative would be same hours/salary and similar skills/experience required. So the HR Coordinator role in question was not 'suitable' in terms of the legal definition. They felt the skill set required also made the role unsuitable, but the hours thing alone is enough.

What they should have done is kept you informed of vacancies and given you the opportunity to apply for any that arose, so they were wrong there, but they were certainly not obliged to offer you the role.

You say you think the best thing would be a compromise agreement but I can't see much of a case really tbh. You would be claiming unfair dismissal on the basis that they didn't tell you about a vacancy with different hours and for a different set of skills to yours. Even though they should as a matter of good practice tell you about all vacancies, it's not much to base a legal claim on really.

By all means continue with your grievance - they were as I say wrong not to make all vacancies available to you, but don't focus on saying they should have offered you something.

Thank you for your response and I understand totally what you have said about them being under no obligation to OFFER me the 3 mentioned positions but I understand that under normal maternity rights I should have been advised of these positions and been given the opportunity to apply should I have been interested?

The thing that made this situation a bit more difficult on my behalf and why I am quite annoyed about it, is that the people that have got all 3 of the positions mentioned have not got the particular relevant skills sets either but have been given the chance to try the jobs anyway. For example, the girl that has got the HR position has not got HR experience so is no better qualified than me to do the job. If someone properly qualified had got the position then it would not have been such a problem for me because I would of understood the point about my skills set. I also hear what you're saying about them being full time but I still should have been given the option to try for these positions.

Yes you should have been advised and given the opportunity to apply yes. I'm just saying don't go in saying they should have offered one of them two you because that isn't the case, and if you say that they will focus on telling you that you are wrong about that rather than actually addressing your valid concerns.

Thank you very much for your advice on this matter. I feel a lot clearer on how to word things now when I go into the meeting.
I feel I can now say that although they were not obliged under the redundancy situation to offer me the positions as they were not deemed suitable, I should have been informed of the vacancies under my maternity rights and therefore feel the situation is unfair on the basis of me not having a chance to apply for this position in the normal way.