redundancy after maternity leave or is it only me???

[sunshine919]

hello there,
has anyone experienced or experiencing redundancy after maternity? or anyone currently going through any legal action against their work due to maternity or pregnancy? i returned to work from maternity only to be told 2 weeks later without warning i was to be made redundant!!

hi sunshine

having been on maternity leave is not necessarily relevant unless you feel you have been unfairly selected for redundancy because you have been on maternity leave, in which case it is obviously discrimination.

How many people have been made redundant, how long have you been working there and what was the reason given for redundancy?

happened to me! 6 weeks before i was due to return after mat leave got a letter saying my post was at risk of redundancy

I was the only person made redundant after a 4 week consulation (when i returned to work)

take legal advice now - speak to Equal Opps and ACAS. Go to your local CAB and as the PP said you need to establish whether this is a genuine redundancy or not

hi girls, i have been there 3 years and i didn't even get a letter saying i was at risk of redundancy, i was told at a "catch up" meeting with my manager, i got a letter a week letter by email advising i was at risk of redundancy when my manager made it clear i was redundant!

there are almost 2000 people in the company 24 locations and i was the only one restructured out.... have had my consultation meetings and lots of inconsistences... am currently unemployed while my ds is settled in nursery. reluctant to take him out as he is happy there, has a routine and a massive waiting list to get him back in full time if i took him out or reduced him down!

its been stressful and crappy!!! i am now under my pre-preg weight!!

have seeked legal advise, they want to proceed legally as does DH but work want to settle with a crappy amount... just wonder if anyone knows the chances of success if we go to tribunal! i'm feeling as if i should just settle and get my life back on track, but then there's that whole fairness thing.... never did i think i'd lose my job!!

oh btw, some sex discrim thrown in too! manager sent me an email one morning asking me if i'd had my rusks! and also said i'd be having another baby anyway when he told me i was made redundant!!

IS THIS WORLD MAD OR WHAT!! all i did was have a buba!

thanks for listening!
x

hiya

sounds highly dodgy to me, if you were the only one!

I would think you do have a decent case of success at tribunal and if you are getting legal advice they will help you with presenting it properly and keeping records of everything etc

However, tbh you will probably be best to settle it. Actually going to tribunal is extremely stressful, time-consuming and can take a long time to go through the whole thing. Thinking about your personal situation you don't need that!

I would suggest in your position you would be better to negotiate the best possible settlement for you. You don't need to settle for a crappy amount for something like this -they are hoping you will take it as it's the easy option, and will go away quietly!

Getting a better settlement may involve proceeding as if you have every intention of going to tribunal to 'bluff' them to go as high as possible. Believe me they won't want to end up in a tribunal, it will be cheaper and easier for them to settle, but you can ensure you get the best possible settlement by pushing them all the way.

I would refuse their offer, write (get your legal adviser to write if poss) refusing it, stating you feel you would have an excellent chance of success at a tribunal, so would rather proceed along that route, as compensation you would receive would be much higher than their offer.

Something along those lines.

They should come back with a higher amount if they know what's good for them!

let us know how you get on

sunshine
i am no expert but it sounds like you have a good case - the damages for sex discrimination are unlimited so do not settle yet
have you a copy of the email about the rusks?
Also, they may not have handled it correctly with regard to not telling you in writing first

sunshine
i am no expert but it sounds like you have a good case - the damages for sex discrimination are unlimited so do not settle yet
have you a copy of the email about the rusks?
Also, they may not have handled it correctly with regard to not telling you in writing first

i successfully sued a company for doing just that to me, and it was a lot more complicated. dont settle, they shouldnt be allowed to get away with this.

Good to hear you were successful nightowl. Absolutely right they shouldn't be allowed to get away with it.

I would just bear in mind though, in these situations you need to think not just about what a legal or moral victory would be.

Those are important but what is also important is what the best outcome for you would be, which rightly or wrongly is not necessarily the same thing.

flowery, i understand what you are saying and of course its up to the individual.

if a settlement is the best thing in a given situation then that's the way to go.

for me personally, i hoped they would be wary of doing this to the next girl and so i pursued it. i am (i admit) the biggest wimp ever, i hate confrontation in any shape or form. it was horrible, their solicitor got me up for three hours..it was almost like i was up for murder..he screamed at me from across the room that i was lying (very dramatic). bet he was peed off that he lost to the CAB .

for me, i needed to prove them wrong but then i am a stubborn ass!

i do think she should have a good case though, i was very surprised that i won mine as there were a lot of other factors involved.

sunshine, i think you have a very strong case. i was in a similar situation at the end of my mat leave in january, but my employer was very very careful not to put a foot out of line. and as it suited me anyway (now pregnant again) i settled. but it seems in your case that if you are the only person in the company to be made redundant as part of this process, that is blatant discrimination. also , the remarks that your boss made might be worth a lot of money. i'm not an expert, but i hear that while payouts for unfair dismissal type cases are capped, there can be unlimited damages for sexual discrimination.
its far too soon for you to even think of settling, please get some professional advice asap, even if you have to pay for it now it could be a great investment. hth

notnigella absolutely right no cap on compensation for sex discrimination.

Sunshine's employer will know this or should soon find it out, so worth pursuing as far as she can towards a tribunal to ensure they offer a reasonable settlement bearing this in mind.

Also agree sunshine must get legal representation to do this right, it will be worth it. Nightowl's tribunal experience is not ususual sadly, which is why I would always say consider very carefully before going all the way.

it was worth it though flowery. as frightening as it was (bloody terrifying, i cant lie).

apart from having a baby on my own, the most terrifying thing i have ever done in my life

i couldnt have cared less about the money at the time, (although i cant say it wasnt welcome).

thanks so much, i have a sense of energy to now go full steam ahead! just what i needed as my confidence levels are not as they used to be!!

i guess they are now building a case against me as apparently there are now more redundancies (2 months later) in a diff dept!... i have the rusks email, they have seen it so will see.. unfort as i was not advised i could take witnesses to my consultation meetings all my notes full of their inconsistences i guess will be my word against theirs!

plus they recruited someone in to do part of my job!!!

i've been having without prejudice phone calls with HR top notch and she's been trying to put me off telling me of a woman recenlty in the paper who lost her sex discrim case against men asking her to make the tea!!

nightowl, are you able to give me an indication if what you won was around the year salary mark or higher or lower as costs are gonna start mounting and it would be useful to know for my own case! also did they pay your legal costs? cheers honey!

i think you are all right, i need to show that i am serious, and i am now! so forms are ready to go with my lawyer on monday, i will only go as far as i am comfortable with... shame to settle with such a crappy amount i know..

on a funny side the HR woman started to cry when i did during my appeal / grievance hearing to try get on my side!! when i paid no notice to her, she mentioned it to me at a without prejudice phonecall the next day that she was upset for me!!! yeah right! lawyer said she had never heard anything so ridicolous!!
lesson... trust no one.....

thanks again girls really appreciate this!

nite xx

oh and i did get aggravated damages for the insulting and degrading way they went about their case too.

every cloud.

sunshine, can you CAT me? no problem if you want any advice at all, happy to help.

take it to tribunal, I got 3 months wages when my company needed to make me redundant at the end of Mat Leave.

Definitely put in a claim for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination.

They have not followed redundancy procedures or the statutory 3 step dismissal procedure. I assume they didn't give you the right of appeal too?

Get a lawyer, check if your home insurance covers legal expenses.

Fight it all the way

Hi,

I was made redundant at the end of my mat leave 7 years ago. I secretly recorded the subsequent meetings with my managers and the telephone conversations with the HR department. They passed the buck every time I asked for the selection criteria and just said that my job no longer existed (it did).

I took them to tribunal. It was hard. They claimed that I was made redundant because I was paid more than other people with the same job. They said that secretly recorded material was not legally admissible. The tribunal man said that may be the case in a court of law but in a tribunal he could decide whatever he liked was admissible and he thought my tapes were.

They made me an offer.

It was Soooooooooooooooo worth it.

Fight it.

You can call the equal ops commission for advice

were you in a union?

You can get no win no fee legal advice if you like (though they will take a percentage)

at HR woman crying. Interesting technique....!

Good to hear you are fired up and feeling confident Sunshine, and you are right you need to push this forward to make sure they know you are serious and won't take a crappy amount to go away!

Plenty of support available here

thanks again! useful info indeed! i gave them the option to up their without prejudice offer by end of today and have heard nothing from them, so i guess the claim goes in next week!!! eeeekkkkkkkkkk

nightowl i will CAT you as soon as i join, i am dialling up right now - long story and it's soooo slow and taking forever to load the registration stuff..!

NSF, good on you fighting and well done on winning, glad to hear there is justice out there!! i spoke to Equal opps and ACAS and other orgs and all very helpful, but no-one can really give me a win or lose answer. my lawyer thinks i can do much better on their offer so will see. on a plus, she writes books on mat law and sex discrim and for the EOC but on a minus, she's expensive and eating up my redundancy money! out of interest did you go back into work after your tribunal? i have to say my confidence levels and faith in the corporate institution is severly lacking and the thought of starting all over again just stresses me out... esp if we decide on a number 2!

on the insurance and union!!

have a great weekend!
xxx

I didn't go straight back to work and lived off the compensation. I was back at work from when he was about 18 months, but chose a different industry, as the one I was in was soooooo nasty (recruitment).

I have never regretted any of it

sunshine realistically you won't be able to go back I wouldn't have thought, although sometimes people do.

You will probably have to specify what outcome you would like - whether you would want your post reinstated or whether it is unrealistic to expect you to go back after this episode.

Normally in a situation like this you would probably say it is unrealistic to expect you to go back after the way you have been treated so you would need compensation, which will give you a bit of breathing space before you have to go back to work somewhere and will give you time to work out what you want to do and find something.

i defo wouldn't go back to work there, i am looking for compensation only, for unfair dismissal, sex discrim and breach of contract i have history with that manager as when he found out i was preggies tried for 4 months to back track on an agreed bonus plan, causing me stress, infections and my blood pressure to rocket resulting in 3 weeks sick leave! i'm also looking for injury to feelings!

i just don't have the courage right now to get back into work, start again at another company.... it's been over a year since i worked!! so really i have to think about what i'd like to do... out of principle i shouldn't be forced to become a housewife living off dh's salary and preventing ds from thriving at his nursery which he loves.

love my wee family to bits but it has been a hellava adjustment becoming a parent and now all this after esp after doing the separation sending him off to nursery which was sooo hard! i really thought it would be soooo simple and going back to work i could make the choice to leave work if it didn't work out not their choice and certainly not 2 weeks after i went back!!

i think as more women return to work from maternity leave only more and more of this crap will happen, maybe the law needs to be looked at? i.e they tried to offer me other posts during consultation at considerably less pay and of lower status, never mind roles i had no experience in! my boss just wanted me out of his hair! x

I THINK that if you say you want to go back and they don't let you you are automatically entitled to the equivalent of 6 months pay on top of any compensation already awarded to you (could be wrong - it was 7 years ago)

NST- I am afraid that isn't correct.

Compensation for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination is based on loss of earnings. Thus, if someone walks straight into a new job at the same wage, no matter how 'bad' the dismissal (except injury to feelings - see below), their compensation will be minimal. Sunshine - hopefully your lawyer has explained this all to you when assessing the level of offer you would accept.

Injury to feelings awards are on top of this, but are not millions of dollars like they are in the US. They will almost never exceed £25,000, and more commonly are a couple of thousand pounds.

Hope that's a bit of help.