MNHQ here. Sign in for another FREE legal advice clinic about pregnancy, maternity or parental issues at work from Maternity Action

[AnnaCMumsnet]

You may remember Mumsnet and Maternity Action teamed up to provide an online legal clinic, offering free advice. We got such positive feedback we’re doing it again.

From Monday Mumsnet and Maternity Action are providing an online legal clinic, offering free advice on pregnancy, maternity and parental rights at work from volunteer employment solicitors and barristers who are members of the Employment Lawyers Association.
Maternity Action reports huge demand for its advice line, especially topics such as redundancy during maternity leave, return to work, maternity pay and rights during pregnancy, and on Mumsnet's Talk forums, the topic of employment rights is a hardy perennial.

The clinic will respond to this demand in a hopefully innovative way, providing free, accurate, public advice online and raising awareness of parents' rights at work. It will also enable Maternity Action and Mumsnet to identify trends and produce permanent content to address areas in which employers and workers could benefit from clear, upfront guidance.

The clinic will take place on this thread in the form of a 'Q&A' session. Users can post questions about their employment rights dilemmas relating to pregnancy, maternity and parental rights at work. Specialist solicitors and barristers will take necessary additional detail via private messaging before posting up answers and advice.
The clinic will run for a week from this Monday for five days until Friday 12th July. We will do our best to provide all answers during the week but, at the latest, by the Monday of the following week. You can find information on where to go for more help once the clinic has ended here.

What to do if you’d like to post a question
If you have a question about your rights at work during pregnancy, maternity or parental leave please post it online during the week of the clinic. Please give as much information as possible but remember that this is an online forum and can be viewed by the public – including your colleagues and employer. You can use the private message facility to disclose any information you would prefer to keep off the public forums.

Please send your name and the name of your employer by private message to the user MaternityActionfreeadvice so that it can be passed on to the volunteers to do a conflict of interest check. We cannot post a reply until you have sent this information by private message.

Once your advice has been posted online, you will have an opportunity to provide feedback. This helps us to find out whether you found the advice helpful, whether it helped you to resolve your situation at work and some information about you. All survey responses are anonymous and confidential. Providing feedback will help us to see what improvements can be made in developing this type of online free legal advice clinic. You can fill out the survey here: www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/KVPGBFF

Ts and Cs – please read
The advice provided to an individual poster is based only on the information provided by that poster. Advice on this thread is also particular to the individual who has asked for it and is likely to be specific to that person’s situation. A poster may have provided further relevant information by private message which will not appear on this thread. So please take care if you choose to apply that advice to your own situation - it is recommended that you first take legal advice from one of the sources we suggest here.

Mumsnet, Maternity Action and Maternity Action's volunteers accept no liability for any loss suffered as a result of an individual choosing to follow advice provided to another poster's question on the thread.

The lawyers, all of whom are specialists in employment law, will be working as volunteers for Maternity Action in respect of the clinic. Any personal information collected as a result of the clinic will be held by Maternity Action and will be deleted after 18 months. If you wish to make a complaint about the service you received, you can use Maternity Action’s complaints policy here.

With regards to maternity pay: I am a secondary teacher and considering using shared parental leave, but my employer doesn't know a lot about it.

I am due in Jan 2020 and would like to know if I can take maternity pay from Jan til the start of the 6 week summer holiday, then let my partner take shared leave during the summer holiday? So we are both off work, I am paid full time wage, partner is paid SPP. And then after the summer holiday, my partner can go back to work and I can go back to mat leave/SPL for a few more months.

I can't really make sense of the gov information on this and how it can be applied to teachers and want to understand it a bit more to make the most out of my mat leave! Any advice welcome 😊 thank you!

Hello,

I am not entitled to statutory maternity pay as I changed jobs and then found out I was pregnant, but I am entitled to maternity allowance. Please can you let me know whether I will still receive my car allowance (which is a monthly cash payment) and pension contribution whilst I am on maternity leave?

I am looking for some advice on my current situation. I am currently on Statutory Maternity Leave, which is due to end in October 2019. I am permanently employed, with a full time contract and I have been employed by them since April 2016. They are only a small business.

In March, when my baby was 8 weeks old the directors of the company came to visit me at my home, during which they advised me verbally that they were going to make me redundant but they hadn’t sorted the details yet. They confirmed that my maternity pay wouldn’t be affected but that they would be closing the business and selling the premises of which I work. I have contacted them on numerous occasions for some sort of letter with the details of redundancy then I could have something in writing, of which they only sent to me in June (of which I can privately send).

I am confused with the letter as it doesn’t officially state they are making me redundant, and there is an indefinite consultation period. They have advised me that I should look for alternative employment and also said they could possibly continue my post on a part time basis. I personally feel as if I am being pressured and bullied into returning back to work only part time, or more so being pushed to find a new job so that they don’t need to pay me redundancy. They have basically told me that I don't have a job to return to.

During my time on Maternity leave, they contacted me 3 weeks after the birth asking me to work (text messages can be sent privately) and have made me feel extremely stressed, anxious and upset with the prospect of not having a job to return to after my leave. They have also failed to pay me on my contracted pay date in December and again in June, of which I have had to pursue them for the payment. I would be grateful of any advice you could offer on what rights I have or what I should do, Thank you!

Hello, I was hoping for redundancy advice please. I am 19 weeks pregnant. I have worked at my organisation for over 7 years. In 2016 I went on maternity leave and when I returned in 2017 I started to work 2.5 days a week. Prior to that I had always worked full time for them.
I work for an organisation where 20 of us do the same job nationally and we have all been given notice of redundancy. There is the opportunity for 9 of us to stay in the role, and I have interviewed to keep my job. I am yet to hear the outcome, and it may be a while whilst they interview everyone else.
We have been encouraged to apply for new roles the organisation has created. Half of our accountabilities have been taken away from our role and given to two new roles. Both of these new roles are Full Time. One of the new roles I cannot apply for as they want the post holder to have sight loss and I do not. I have applied for the second new job. When I submitted my application I noted that between now and going on maternity leave in Oct/Nov 2019, I am not in the position to work full time so would need to have a flexible working agreement, for which I said I was very happy to be flexible. On returning from maternity leave i mentioned I am very happy to phase myself back in to full time working. I have been told though by the recruiting manager that flexible working isn’t suited to the job. Given my circumstances, that I am under risk of redundancy, 19 weeks pregnant, and just not able to work full time right now, how much power do I have to question this?
I am further worried that if I did get offered the job, but my flexible working request for between now and going on MAT leave was then turned down, I would need to turn the job offer down. Would this mean I forfeit redundancy pay as a job has been offered to me but I turned it down? Thank you so, so much for any advice.

Thank you so, so much for any help or advice you may be able to give.

Sorry to also add, I am due on 4/12/19. I understand you are still entitled to MAT pay if you are still employed during the qualifying week of 15 weeks before your due date. Please could someone confirm for me what that exact date will be, 15 weeks before the due date, that my employer would use? Thank you

I wonder if you could help! I have recently ended 9 months of Maternity - 17th Sept 2018 until 17th June 2019 and then I had 1 week of annual leave. I had submitted a flexi-working request to drop my hours to part-time as when I was on maternity the business hours changed from 08:30-16:00 or 10:30-18:00 monday to friday and 9:00-13:00 on some The new shifts were anything from 08:00-21:00 09:00-17:00 on saturdays and 10:00-16:00 on sundays. Physically impossible with 2 small children (now 8 months and 5 years) and a partner who also works.

I had asked for 09:30-18:00 wednesday and thursdays and 09:30-16:00 on fridays however my request was denied and no alternative options given. I was told it would need to be full time or nothing, so I had no choice but to leave. However everyone I have spoken to seems to think, they can’t do this. The company is a multimillion pound company and therefore have more than one department however no options were given to me, just Full Time or leave.

My daughter has medical problems which I don’t feel is suitable for nursery at the moment as she is still young and still having tests etc carried out.

Can they do this or not? Should I have been given other options?

Thanks for all your help! xo

Dear FrenchHen

Protection from Unfavourable Treatment
The Equality Act 2010, section 18 says that your employer must not treat you unfavourably because of your pregnancy or maternity leave. This means that your employer must not select you for redundancy because you are pregnant or because you are going to be taking maternity leave.

Redundancy
Your employer can still make you redundant during pregnancy providing it is a genuine redundancy situation and it is not because of your pregnancy or leave. The legal definition of redundancy is where an employer needs to reduce the number of employees because of:
• Business closure
• Workplace closure
• Diminished requirements of the business for employees to do work of a particular kind.

If you think that this is not a genuine redundancy situation and you are being dismissed, you should seek legal advice.

Maternity leave
If you are still employed once you begin your maternity leave and your job is at risk of redundancy you are entitled to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy (where one is available) to start immediately after your existing contract ends. In other words, you have priority for any suitable vacancy. If you are not offered a suitable alternative vacancy you may have a claim for automatic unfair dismissal and should seek advice.

Your rights at work will depend on when you are given notice of being at risk of redundancy. If that occurs whilst you are on maternity leave, you will be entitled to be offered a suitable alternative vacancy. If it occurs beforehand, you will have the right to be consulted with and/or scored (if placed in a pool for selection) with other employees, but with allowances. For example, any scoring criteria such as sickness absence should be modified so that any pregnancy-related sickness absences are not taken into account.

Maternity pay
If you are still employed in the 15th week before your baby is due (when you are about 25 weeks’ pregnant) you may be able to qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) from your employer, even if your job ends after then. SMP is paid for 39 weeks regardless of whether you return to the same job. You can find an online calculator here: www.gov.uk/maternity-pay-leave

If your job ends before the 15th week before your baby is due and you are not entitled to SMP, you can claim Maternity Allowance from the Jobcentre Plus: www.gov.uk/government/publications/maternity-allowance-claim-form

@FrenchHen

I found out that my position is being redundant at some undefined date in the near future. The next day I found out I was 7 weeks pregnant. I haven't had any official notification of the redundancy yet, I am planning on telling my boss about the pregnancy today - I am now 13 weeks. Will this change anything?

I am currently on mat leave from teaching in a local authority school and agreed a flexible return to work (I have it on an email and also in minutes of a meeting attended by both HR and my union). It is a local arrangement so no material change to my contract but I am concerned I've not had any written confirmation from HR-should I have had any?

My concern is increased because I have asked for details of which days I will work (in order to apply for childcare place) now that next year's timetable has been written, but I have had no reply.

I am worried that as we have had a management change they intend to withdraw their agreement to flexible working. How best do I tackle this?

Hi there!

I have two questions. My partner would like to take SPL. Our plan is for me to take 26 weeks’ maternity leave, then for me to return to work for 5 weeks (with my parents looking after the baby and then the 3 weeks of the Christmas holidays - we are both teachers) and then for him to take the remaining 21 weeks as SPL.

My questions are:

1. Is it okay that for 5 weeks in the middle of the year both of us will be working ie neither of us will be on mat leave or SPL?

1. Do we need to give his employer any more than 8 weeks’ notice? Can we tell them of our intentions for him to take SPL at the end of October if his period of leave will start in January or are we meant to notify them sooner?

Thanks!

For teachers asking about using SPL, I saw this on twitter the other day
teachersspl.wixsite.com/splforteachers

Dear Timeforsinging81

It is discriminatory to treat a woman unfavourably because she is pregnant or on maternity leave.

It seems that there are a couple of issues here. The first is that you were not informed of the promotion opportunity at the same time as others, or when the post was advertised so you have been placed at a disadvantage by only having a short period of time in which to complete the application when compared to your colleagues who are not on maternity leave. The other issue is one which has not happened yet, but may arise in the future if you apply for the role, interview for it and are unsuccessful for discriminatory reasons (i.e because you are on maternity leave).

Looking at the failure to notify you of the opportunity for promotion first: Under the relevant legislation there is explicit provision for “reasonable contact” during maternity leave which was introduced to encourage effective communication between employer and employee. The contact should be used to discuss important developments at work, such as opportunities for promotion or changes within the organisation. It is also good practice that employees who are on maternity leave are included on the distribution list for things such as news bulletins, vacancies and updates about the organisation. The legislation also states that the employee should also be specifically informed of any promotion opportunities or vacancies which arise during maternity leave. If not, there is a risk that the employee may have a claim for unfavourable treatment. In your case as you were told about the role (which you believe you are well qualified to do) after your colleagues, and were not told about it by your manager, presumably as a result of being on maternity leave, this is likely to be discriminatory.

I’ll now consider your concerns about the recruitment process. Under the relevant legislation an employer must not discriminate against an employee because she is pregnant or on maternity leave with regard to promotion or opportunities and should enable them to apply. It would therefore be discriminatory to turn down an application from an employee because she is pregnant or on maternity leave. Similarly, it would be discriminatory to discourage an employee from applying for a promotion because she is pregnant or on maternity leave, or fail to promote an employee if she is the best person for the job. The employer should ensure that the recruitment process is fair and consistent and that each candidate is assessed objectively. Your employer will therefore have a duty to consider your application in exactly the same way as it would for others. At interview, your employer should avoid irrelevant questions such as asking you about childcare arrangements or family circumstances. It would of course constitute pregnancy and maternity discrimination if your employer bases a recruitment decision on your personal or family situation. If you apply for this role, are invited to interview and are ultimately unsuccessful, feedback should be given. If feedback is not automatically given then you can ask for it and this would be useful in order to determine the reason for the decision taken and consequently whether you have been discriminated against. I agree that discrimination could be tricky to establish but, with appropriate feedback, you should be able to gauge whether there are other discriminatory reasons if you are unsuccessful in securing the role.

If you are able to show that you were unsuccessful due to being on maternity leave you could bring a claim in the Employment Tribunal. This claim would need to be brought within 3 months of your employer delivering its decision and you would need to contact ACAS within this time limit. The claim for discrimination in the Employment Tribunal would be established if you were able to show, on the balance of probabilities, that you had been treated unfavourably because you are on maternity leave.

In terms of next steps, I suggest you think carefully about this. Pursuing a claim for discrimination whilst you are still employed is quite an extreme step, not to mention extremely stressful and time consuming. You may wish to deal with your concerns informally initially, and then if they can’t be resolved consider pursuing a more formal route. Do you have a good relationship with your manager, such that you have confidence your concerns would be listened to? If you do pursue the informal route you could raise your concerns that you were not informed about the promotion opportunity at the same time as others and that in your view that amounts to unfavourable treatment. You should also raise your concerns that, given your previous unsuccessful application you have little confidence that you would be successful on this occasion even though you are extremely well qualified for the role.

I suggest you take further legal advice once you have been through the interview stage and received feedback. We have put together some information on sources of further free advice here: find information on where to go for more help once the clinic has ended here.
maternityaction.org.uk/advice/dealing-with-problems-at-work/

@Timeforsinging81

I am on maternity leave and have been informed of a promotion opportunity however I don't think my manager wants me to apply because they need someone in post ASAP. My line manager has not been in touch about the promotion himself but I have been informed about it by another manager. I have only been told about the post a few days before application closes so I think any other applicants will have had more time to complete an application. Also, one of the other applicants has a job offer elsewhere and I think they will give her the promotion to prevent her leaving.

I strongly believe that I would not get the post. I applied and interviewed for another promotion whilst pregnant and was rejected despite being equal with the candidate that got the job so I think my imminent mat leave was a factor but I wouldn't be able to prove that.

Should I discuss my concerns with my manager prior to interview or ask if I have a fair chance? Or should I apply, interview and then persue a discrimination case if I am unsuccessful in getting the promotion? How would discrimination be proved? How/who would judge whether I was better or worse than the other candidates in a discrimination case? I think interviews in this sector are points based but surely it would be easy to just mark me down or inflate the other candidates points if they were wanting to make them appear to be the better choice?

Dear KHG1307

Thank you for your query.

It seems from your post that there are a number issues arising out of this proposed redundancy process by your employer.

Redundancy

As you have been employed for over two years, you are protected from unfair dismissal. Your employer is therefore under a general obligation to undertake a fair redundancy process. This requires consultation with at risk employees, and objective criteria for selecting the employees to be made redundant from the pool.

Your pregnancy and upcoming maternity leave also has an impact on this process. You are one of 20 employees being placed at risk of redundancy. From this pool of 20 employees, 11 will be selected for redundancy and nine will remain in post. As there are 11 employees to be made redundant from your pool, it would be hard for you to argue that you are being placed at risk of redundancy because of your pregnancy. However, your employer would need to ensure that your upcoming maternity leave does not to influence the decision on your redundancy. So in an obvious example, your employer would not be able to select you for redundancy because you are due to be on maternity leave in 2020.

A difficulty arises where you suspect that your pregnancy may have had a bearing on the decision to select you for redundancy, but this not expressly stated. This may be the case where an employer follows a process similar to your employer, i.e. by undertaking individual interviews for positions. A more objective process would have been conduct a scoring exercise based on objective scoring criteria. An absence of objective scoring criteria may allow you to build a case that you have been chosen for redundancy because of your upcoming maternity leave. If you are concerned that the decision on your redundancy may be tainted by your upcoming maternity leave, you could seek reassurance to this effect during the consultancy process. For example, you could request that an objective selection process is engaged rather than the interview-based process currently being used.

Your query is silent on whether your part time status will have a bearing on whether you will be selected as one of the nine employees is not made redundant. I.e. have you been informed that the 9 people who remain employed could be full time or part time, or perhaps working on a job share. If you are selected for redundancy and your employer seeks to rely on the fact that you work part-time, you may point to this being indirect sex discrimination. Your employer could seek to justify this decision on the basis that they require full time employees.

New potential role

The basic principle is that if an employee refuses a reasonable offer of suitable alternative employment, then they forfeit their entitlement to a statutory redundancy payment. Whether a particular role constitutes suitable alternative employment depends on a number of factors. When an employer may rely on this provision, the employer will usually expressly state that the role is being offered on this basis. The fact that you have requested part time working in the role, but your employer has stated that it is a full time position suggests that it is unlikely to be considered suitable alternative employment.

You may also forfeit your statutory redundancy payment if you remain employed in this role, but then leave at a later date. For example, if you accept the role on a full time basis, you could be considered to have remained in employment at your employer (albeit you could seek to agree with your employer that you will undertake the role on a trial basis). If you then unsuccessfully apply to work part time, and decide that you cannot perform this role on a full time basis, then this could indeed forfeit your redundancy payment. This is because you may either be required to resign from the role or be dismissed for a reason other than redundancy. It is therefore safest to try to negotiate part time or a job share as part of the redundancy consultation. If this is refused at that stage, then it seems unlikely that this position would change if you then accepted the role. Accordingly, it is risky to take the full time position (if offered) and then seek to negotiate to part time if you would like to guarantee the redundancy payment. On the other hand, if you are able to accommodate full time employment, perhaps with working from home or asking to take annual leave a couple of days a week, between now and the date of your maternity leave, then this may be a reasonable way to ensure that you are employed while you are on maternity leave. You will need to give notice of when you want to start your maternity leave by the 15th week before your baby is due (see below for when that is) and the earliest you can start your maternity leave and pay is 11 weeks before your baby is due.

If you are concerned that your upcoming maternity leave may disadvantage you in the collective interview process, then it is likely to be sensible to put forward the suggestion of an objective selection process as part of the consultation. If this is refused, and you are made redundant, then you should appeal the decision. As part of any appeal you should state that your employer’s choice of process has placed you at a disadvantage because of your pregnancy, in that it was not objective and could easily have been tainted by discrimination. At this stage, you may then wish to seek further guidance on how the situation has developed.

Maternity Pay

Finally, your qualifying week for Statutory Maternity Pay is the week of the 18th to 24th August. As long as you are employed in all or part of that week (even for one day) you can qualify for SMP (providing you meet the other qualifying conditions of length of service and average earnings). Your employer must pay it to you for the full 39 week period even if you are made redundant after the qualifying week. If your employer provides any enhanced contractual maternity pay e.g. tops up your SMP to full pay or half pay, the enhanced pay will usually end when your employment ends unless your employer agrees otherwise or you can negotiate it as part of a redundancy settlement.

If you were to be made redundant and your contract ended before the 18th August, you could claim Maternity Allowance instead of SMP.

I hope you have found this helpful.

@KHG1307

Hello, I was hoping for redundancy advice please. I am 19 weeks pregnant. I have worked at my organisation for over 7 years. In 2016 I went on maternity leave and when I returned in 2017 I started to work 2.5 days a week. Prior to that I had always worked full time for them. I work for an organisation where 20 of us do the same job nationally and we have all been given notice of redundancy. There is the opportunity for 9 of us to stay in the role, and I have interviewed to keep my job. I am yet to hear the outcome, and it may be a while whilst they interview everyone else. We have been encouraged to apply for new roles the organisation has created. Half of our accountabilities have been taken away from our role and given to two new roles. Both of these new roles are Full Time. One of the new roles I cannot apply for as they want the post holder to have sight loss and I do not. I have applied for the second new job. When I submitted my application I noted that between now and going on maternity leave in Oct/Nov 2019, I am not in the position to work full time so would need to have a flexible working agreement, for which I said I was very happy to be flexible. On returning from maternity leave i mentioned I am very happy to phase myself back in to full time working. I have been told though by the recruiting manager that flexible working isn’t suited to the job. Given my circumstances, that I am under risk of redundancy, 19 weeks pregnant, and just not able to work full time right now, how much power do I have to question this? I am further worried that if I did get offered the job, but my flexible working request for between now and going on MAT leave was then turned down, I would need to turn the job offer down. Would this mean I forfeit redundancy pay as a job has been offered to me but I turned it down? Thank you so, so much for any advice.

Thank you so, so much for any help or advice you may be able to give.

Dear MrsPandigital,

I’ve assumed for the purpose of this answer that you and your partner are both employed rather than self-employed.

Both parents can take SPL at any time during the child’s first year, ending with the day before their first birthday, provided that you have brought your maternity leave to an end by serving a curtailment notice. Your employer cannot refuse a request for of SPL unless you ask for discontinuous periods.

You can therefore take maternity leave up until July 2020 and serve a curtailment notice for it to end before the 6 weeks’ summer holiday and request SPL to start in September. Your employer would not be able to refuse this as you are only asking for one continuous period of SPL, notwithstanding that there is a gap between your maternity leave and SPL.

Your partner can request SPL/ShPP for the 6 week break. Again, his employer cannot refuse this as he is requesting one continuous period of SPL.

The total amount of leave you can both take is 52 weeks, to be made up of your maternity leave, and both of your SPL, with 39 weeks paid at the statutory rate. So in effect, if your partner takes 6 weeks’ SPL, your maternity leave plus SPL can be a maximum of 46 weeks, with 33 weeks of paid leave.

You will both need to give at least 8 weeks’ notice of your intention to take SPL, and your employers can require proof of eligibility and details of the SPL taken by the other parent. You will also need to give at least 8 weeks’ notice to curtail your maternity leave.

You should check your employer’s policy on maternity pay and shared parental pay. Some employers enhance maternity pay but not shared parental pay (which has recently been confirmed as lawful), so this may affect you.

@MrsPandigital

With regards to maternity pay: I am a secondary teacher and considering using shared parental leave, but my employer doesn't know a lot about it.

I am due in Jan 2020 and would like to know if I can take maternity pay from Jan til the start of the 6 week summer holiday, then let my partner take shared leave during the summer holiday? So we are both off work, I am paid full time wage, partner is paid SPP. And then after the summer holiday, my partner can go back to work and I can go back to mat leave/SPL for a few more months.

I can't really make sense of the gov information on this and how it can be applied to teachers and want to understand it a bit more to make the most out of my mat leave! Any advice welcome 😊 thank you!

Hi - I’ve sent my company name and just wanted to check it had been received.

I have been put at risk of redundancy after 7 years work whilst on maternity leave. I work in a small team.
My employer has selected my role (business development and marketing manager) alone as our main contract is being reduced from September (although he advised at my first meeting the detail hadn’t been confirmed but they need to make a cost saving) I asked for selection criteria as my maternity cover and junior (same person) has not been considered at all but was told they no longer require business development which whilst is in my job title isn’t something I have really ever done and I believe my actual tasks will just be rolled into my junior who is covering me whilst on maternity leave.
I also work for another business owned by the owner and he described my work as as hoc which it isn’t - it has been sustained for 5 years saying this will be reduced to 7 hours a week so the work will continue there too. My contract doesn’t state either business name just the overall company name.
They obviously need to make a saving but I can’t get real clarity on what tasks are being removed from the contract to make savings to be clear this is a genuine redundancy.
Where do I stand with this?

Dear CACMeadow

I am sorry to hear of the difficulties you are facing.

The letter you have received from your employer is placing you at risk of redundancy. A consultation process appears to be underway. They have suggested meeting you as part of the consultation process although no date has been specified. It is unclear from the letter whether it is only your role that is at risk of redundancy.

REDUNDANCY

If you are made redundant whilst on maternity leave you need to consider whether a genuine redundancy situation exists. Redundancy can happen for a number of reasons – your employer has suggested that it is because there are fewer employees required to do your work and that the work of the company will be undertaken from alternative premises.

If you are selected for redundancy for a reason related to pregnancy or childbirth this will amount to an automatically unfair dismissal. It is also direct discrimination if your employer treats you unfavourably because of your pregnancy or having taken maternity leave. If however, you are selected for redundancy for a reason that is genuinely unconnected with your pregnancy then you will not have been unfairly dismissed.

If other employees are also placed at risk of redundancy and your employer applies a selection criteria, it will need to ensure it does not discriminate against you, for example any absences you have had connected with pregnancy/maternity should not be included when scoring you on attendance.

You have the right to be individually consulted even if you are on maternity leave. If you are made redundant without any consultation, you are likely to have claim for unfair dismissal and pregnancy/maternity discrimination. Your employer should consider whether it should extend the consultation period to ensure that you can properly take part in the process. They should also be flexible in terms of how they consult with you such as discussing your potential redundancy at your home, by phone or another convenient location. You may for example propose using your KIT days for attending any consultation meetings.

We have put together a guide on where to get more help if you are unable to resolve your issues. You can find information on where to go for more help once the clinic has ended here.

maternityaction.org.uk/advice/dealing-with-problems-at-work/

@CACMeadow

I am looking for some advice on my current situation. I am currently on Statutory Maternity Leave, which is due to end in October 2019. I am permanently employed, with a full time contract and I have been employed by them since April 2016. They are only a small business.

In March, when my baby was 8 weeks old the directors of the company came to visit me at my home, during which they advised me verbally that they were going to make me redundant but they hadn’t sorted the details yet. They confirmed that my maternity pay wouldn’t be affected but that they would be closing the business and selling the premises of which I work. I have contacted them on numerous occasions for some sort of letter with the details of redundancy then I could have something in writing, of which they only sent to me in June (of which I can privately send).

I am confused with the letter as it doesn’t officially state they are making me redundant, and there is an indefinite consultation period. They have advised me that I should look for alternative employment and also said they could possibly continue my post on a part time basis. I personally feel as if I am being pressured and bullied into returning back to work only part time, or more so being pushed to find a new job so that they don’t need to pay me redundancy. They have basically told me that I don't have a job to return to.

During my time on Maternity leave, they contacted me 3 weeks after the birth asking me to work (text messages can be sent privately) and have made me feel extremely stressed, anxious and upset with the prospect of not having a job to return to after my leave. They have also failed to pay me on my contracted pay date in December and again in June, of which I have had to pursue them for the payment. I would be grateful of any advice you could offer on what rights I have or what I should do, Thank you!

Hello

We're closing this thread to new queries now. We'll be back next week to post up the remaining answers from the volunteers.

Thank you so much to everyone who's posted questions. And a very big round of applause to the Maternity Action volunteers, who I think we will all agree were pretty magnificent once again.

Thanks
MNHQ

Dear Butterflygold

You have a number of queries about your upcoming maternity leave.

As you started with your employer relatively recently you are not entitled to statutory maternity pay but you do qualify for maternity allowance. You want to know:

• Will you still be entitled to receive your car allowance during your maternity leave?

• What the position is in relation to your pension contributions during your maternity leave?

• If your husband wishes to take shared parental leave will you need to stop claiming maternity allowance?

Car allowance

During maternity leave a woman is entitled to benefit from all the terms and conditions of her employment except those relating to remuneration. This means that you will not be entitled to wages or salary but would be entitled to benefits that are non-cash benefits. Unfortunately the position with car allowances is unclear.

HMRC treat car allowances as a cash payment. If you had been entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay the car allowance would have been taken into account when calculating your entitlement. However, it may be arguable that the purpose of a car allowance is to provide for a company car, which is a non-cash benefit. This right continues during maternity leave so the car allowance should still be paid. Unfortunately the legislation itself is unclear. There is also no caselaw which conclusively supports either argument. However, cases on related issues tend to suggest that benefits such as car allowances are seen as remuneration and hence there is no obligation on the employer to continue paying them during maternity leave.

As the law on this point is still uncertain some employers choose to continue paying car allowance during maternity leave. If your employer does not do this you could try to argue that you are entitled to the payment as it is not remuneration. If they refuse you could potentially pursue a claim in the Employment Tribunal. Because of the uncertainty of the legal position you may decide that this is not something you wish to risk doing.

Pension contributions

You are entitled to receive the same contributions into your pension as if you were not on maternity leave for the period when you are receiving Maternity Allowance. This means that for up to 39 weeks when you are receiving Maternity Allowance your employer must make the same pension contributions as normal. If you are required to make contributions they will be based on what you are receiving from your employer so you will not be required to make pension contributions during your Maternity Allowance period.

Shared Parental Leave

In order for your husband to be entitled to shared parental leave he will need to have been employed for at least 26 weeks by the 15th week before your baby is due and still be employed up to the start of his shared parental leave. Assuming that he meets the qualifying conditions, you will need to give at least 8 weeks’ notice to curtail (reduce) your maternity leave in order to transfer the untaken leave to your partner to take as shared parental leave.

You are entitled to 52 weeks’ maternity leave and 39 weeks’ Maternity Allowance. If you want to take the full 39 week Maternity Allowance period, you can give notice to your employer to curtail/reduce your maternity leave by 13 weeks. This means that you must return to work at the end of your 39 week Maternity Allowance period as your leave will have ended.

For your husband to take up to 13 weeks’ shared parental leave, he must give his employer at least 8 weeks’ notice before the start of his leave. If you take all of your Maternity Allowance, his shared parental leave will be unpaid leave. He can take his shared parental leave at any time up to a year from the birth of your baby. This means that he could take some shared parental leave close to the birth, while you are on your maternity leave and Maternity Allowance, or he could take his shared parental leave after you have returned to work. He can give up to three notices to book three separate blocks of leave.

Your partner will only be eligible for Statutory Shared Parental Pay if he meets the qualifying conditions and you give at least 8 weeks’ notice to the JobCentre Plus to reduce your Maternity Allowance period. This means that you will have to return to work earlier in order to transfer paid leave to your partner.

Please also note that your partner is likely to qualify for paternity leave and Statutory Paternity Pay which is two weeks off work around the birth of your baby. This is different to shared parental leave and he must take his paternity leave before taking any shared parental leave or he will lose it.

I hope that helps.

@butterflygold

Hello,

I am not entitled to statutory maternity pay as I changed jobs and then found out I was pregnant, but I am entitled to maternity allowance. Please can you let me know whether I will still receive my car allowance (which is a monthly cash payment) and pension contribution whilst I am on maternity leave?

Dear Heyha,

Sorry to hear that you are worried about your working arrangements post maternity leave. Given that you have evidence by email and in minutes of a meeting, there is no specific need to have it confirmed by HR, although it would be helpful to you for clarity. A change to your working pattern following a flexible working request is a contractual change, therefore it is good practice to have it set out in writing. I suggest:

1. Write to your Head Teacher to ask when you will be notified of your teaching days and to ask for a reply urgently (before the end of term) so that you can arrange childcare from September (cc to your union and the HR contact).

1. Write to HR separately to ask for confirmation in writing of your flexible working arrangement and for your contract to be updated to reflect the agreed change (you may need to attach the minutes and the email evidence you have).

Even if you made an informal request for flexible working (rather than under the statutory scheme) this would amount to a variation of your contract and should be reflected in an updated contract.

If the arrangements are withdrawn, this could amount to a breach of contract and sex/pregnancy discrimination which could potentially give rise to constructive unfair dismissal claim – you would need to seek specific legal advice at that stage and might decide to raise a grievance first. Time limits are very short in employment tribunals and you would need to issue proceedings within 3 months of the decision (if it happens) to withdraw the arrangements.

I hope that helps and all goes well on your return to work.

@Heyha

I am currently on mat leave from teaching in a local authority school and agreed a flexible return to work (I have it on an email and also in minutes of a meeting attended by both HR and my union). It is a local arrangement so no material change to my contract but I am concerned I've not had any written confirmation from HR-should I have had any?

My concern is increased because I have asked for details of which days I will work (in order to apply for childcare place) now that next year's timetable has been written, but I have had no reply.

I am worried that as we have had a management change they intend to withdraw their agreement to flexible working. How best do I tackle this?

Dear catlovingbeth

I have set out my advice to your questions below.

Please note that when answering your queries we have assumed that you satisfy the relevant criteria so as to be eligible for statutory maternity leave and statutory maternity pay and your partner satisfies the conditions for shared parental leave and pay. The below is intended to be general advice only and should be considered in conjunction with you and your partner’s employer’s maternity and shared parental leave policies.

1. Is it okay that for 5 weeks in the middle of the year both of us will be working ie neither of us will be on mat leave or SPL?

Yes, you can take a 5 week break between the end of your maternity leave and the beginning of your partner’s shared parental leave.

You are entitled to 52 weeks maternity leave, of which the first two weeks are compulsory. The maximum shared parental leave that is available to be taken is 52 weeks minus the weeks that have already been taken as maternity leave, which provides for 50 weeks shared parental leave. The maximum Statutory Shared Parental Pay available is 39 weeks, minus the weeks of Statutory Maternity Pay that you have taken.

Shared parental leave does allow parents to take leave in blocks, interspersed with periods of work. However, any shared parental leave must be used between the period of the birth of your child and their first birthday (i.e. within 12 months).

Therefore, the five weeks where you and your partner are both working and not taking maternity leave, or shared parental leave, will reduce the amount of time available for you/ your partner to take as shared parental leave. However, as you are both teachers, I am assuming that you are arranging it in this way in order to take paid holidays if you are back at work during this period.

The above advice is general and it is advisable for you to speak to someone in your HR department and to check your employer’s maternity and/or shared parental leave policies. If you do not have a copy of the policies, HR should be able to provide you with a copy.

1. Do we need to give his employer any more than 8 weeks’ notice? Can we tell them of our intentions for him to take SPL at the end of October if his period of leave will start in January or are we meant to notify them sooner?

You must both give your employer 8 weeks’ written notice, but you can start discussions before this.

There are set documents that you need to submit in order to give the relevant notice.

For your partner this will likely be, not less than 8 weeks before the start date of the first period of shared parental leave:

• A notice of entitlement to take shared parental leave

• A period of leave notice

You will need to provide your employer with a leave curtailment notice 8 weeks before you intend to stop your maternity leave and pay. This is used to inform your employer of your wish to bring forward the date on which your maternity leave and pay will end. In addition to the notice of curtailment, as your partner will be taking a period of shared parental leave, you will also likely be required to give your employer a declaration of consent and entitlement. This must also be given at least 8 weeks before the date of curtailment.

Templates of these documents can be found on ACAS’ website - www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=4911

We would strongly advise that you speak to your HR department who should be able to walk you through the above processes and provide advice on any bespoke requirements and entitlements.

We hope that the above is helpful.

@catlovingbeth

Hi there!

I have two questions. My partner would like to take SPL. Our plan is for me to take 26 weeks’ maternity leave, then for me to return to work for 5 weeks (with my parents looking after the baby and then the 3 weeks of the Christmas holidays - we are both teachers) and then for him to take the remaining 21 weeks as SPL.

My questions are:

1. Is it okay that for 5 weeks in the middle of the year both of us will be working ie neither of us will be on mat leave or SPL?

1. Do we need to give his employer any more than 8 weeks’ notice? Can we tell them of our intentions for him to take SPL at the end of October if his period of leave will start in January or are we meant to notify them sooner?

Thanks!

Dear KittyMcTitty

Thank you for your query.

If there is a genuine redundancy situation and your employer follows a fair procedure in selecting you for redundancy, it may be able to fairly dismiss you for redundancy, despite the adverse implications for you and the fact you are on maternity leave. However, if you believe that this is not a genuine redundancy situation, or your employer has not followed a fair procedure in selecting you for redundancy, or that the decision to select you for redundancy was one which no reasonable employer should have made, then you may have a claim for unfair dismissal and if the redundancy is because of your maternity leave, claims for automatic unfair dismissal and maternity discrimination.

Unfair dismissal rights

As you have been at your employer for over 2 years you have a legal right not to be unfairly dismissed. For a redundancy to be a fair dismissal, it must be a genuine redundancy situation and a fair redundancy process must be followed which includes a fair selection process, proper consultation and consideration of suitable alternative roles.

A genuine redundancy situation would include a situation where your employer has a reduced need for employees to carry out a particular kind of work. Your employer appears to have indicated that it has a reduced need for employees to carry out business development and marketing as a result of their main contract being reduced from September and needing to cut costs. However, in order to establish if this is the case, your employer needs to be clearer as to what part of the contract (and therefore type of work) is being reduced and how this impacts on your role of business development and marketing. I therefore suggest you ask for more details as to the rationale for making your role redundant and specifically, whether it is because of a reduced need for business development and marketing in relation to the client contract or a more general need to cut costs? Your employer must also explain how they intend to carry out the role going forwards. Work can be absorbed into other roles but if all of your work is just moving to the junior member of your team, this would suggest that she should have been put in a selection pool with you (for more information, see below). If your employer cannot provide you with a redundancy rationale that shows a reduced need for employees to carry out a particular kind of work, and you are subsequently made redundant, you could potentially claim unfair dismissal (see below for more information) on the basis that there was no genuine redundancy.

In order for the redundancy to be fair your employer must also consider which employees, who are in similar roles and/or who have overlapping skill sets, should be included in the redundancy selection pool. It is arguable that in your situation, as the junior in your team has been covering your role whilst you are on maternity leave, although more junior, she is in a similar role and has overlapping skills and should be included in the pool. Therefore you should ask your employer why they have not included her in the selection pool.

In order for the redundancy to be fair, your employer must also consult properly with you about the redundancy situation and explore alternatives to avoid redundancy before reaching a final decision on whether it needs to make you redundant. This will usually mean your employer will hold at least 2 meetings with you to discuss the situation in more detail. You should use the meetings as an opportunity to:

• Discuss the basis for your selection, in terms of the selection pool

• Provide your employer with any other information that may influence its final decision.

• Put forward any suggestions to your employer of ways to avoid your redundancy – for example you could suggest that the more junior role is made redundant (although they will probably argue that this is not feasible because of cost)

• Consider any alternative employment positions that may exist – during the consultation period and at any time before your dismissal takes effect, your employer is obliged to consider you for any suitable alternative vacancies that become available in the business or in any associated companies. As an employee on maternity leave, you have the right to be offered any suitable alternative employment first.

• Address any other matters or concerns that you have.

Therefore, during consultation, it would be sensible for you to ask why the junior member of your team was not included in the selection pool given that she has covered your role during maternity leave. However, as your role is being made redundant (and only the junior role will remain), if you do raise this point then you need to be open to the option of taking on the more junior role at a more junior salary and should communicate this to your employer. If your employer is willing to expand the selection pool then in order to determine who is at risk of redundancy, it will have to carry out a fair selection of you and your more junior colleague using fair and objective selection criteria. However, if your employer refuses to do this, without good reason, and you are subsequently made redundant you could potentially have a claim for unfair dismissal on the basis that the selection pool was flawed and therefore the process was unfair.

In order for your redundancy to be fair, your employer must also consider any other suitable alternative roles. As you are on maternity leave, your employer must give you priority for any other suitable roles, above other candidates. If your employer does not do this then you could bring a claim at Tribunal (see below).

Maternity discrimination and automatic unfair dismissal rights

Whilst on maternity leave you have the right not to be discriminated against or treated detrimentally by reason of maternity. In addition, as you are on maternity leave, if you are made redundant because of your maternity leave then you may have a claim for automatic unfair dismissal. For this to be the case you would need to be able to show:

• The only (or principal) reason for your dismissal is redundancy;

• The circumstances constituting a redundancy applied equally to one or more employees who had positions similar to yours; and

· The only (or principal) reason for your selection for redundancy was connected with the fact that you took maternity leave.

Potential next steps

Given that your employer does not appear to have provided you with much information, I suggest you use the period of consultation to ask for more detail about the rationale for the redundancy and why your junior colleague was not included in the selection pool. This will help you to establish if it is a genuine redundancy situation and whether they are following a fair process.

If you are made redundant and you are not satisfied with the answers you have received or the process that your employer has followed you can appeal the redundancy decision - your employer should offer you a right to appeal but if they don’t then you should ask for this opportunity. At an appeal you can challenge the reason given for the redundancy.

Appealing the decision is important if you wish to subsequently bring an employment tribunal claim and it may also encourage the employer to enter into settlement discussions. Settlement is when your employer agrees to pay you an amount of money for entering into a settlement agreement under which you waive your rights to bring employment claims.

Potential Claims

As mentioned above, if you believe that this is not a genuine redundancy situation, or your employer has not followed a fair procedure in selecting you for redundancy, or that the decision to select you for redundancy was one which no reasonable employer should have made, then you may have a claim for unfair dismissal and if the redundancy is because of your maternity leave, claims for automatic unfair dismissal and maternity discrimination. Such claims would be brought at an employment tribunal.

Before bringing a claim for unfair dismissal in the employment tribunal, you would have to contact Acas (the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service) under rules for mandatory early conciliation. Acas is an impartial organisation that will try to resolve any dispute with your employer without the need to bring proceedings in the tribunal. Unfair dismissal claims must usually be brought within three months of the date your employment ends. However, extra time is allowed if you contact Acas to request conciliation.

If you were successful in bringing an unfair dismissal claim then you would be awarded an amount to compensate you for the period of time you are likely to be out of work. This amount is capped at the lesser of one year’s pay or £86,444 for an ordinary unfair dismissal claim. However, a successful automatic unfair dismissal and any discrimination claim is uncapped and you could be awarded more than this, although only if the Tribunal considers you are likely to be out of work for more than a year. In addition, if you could show that your employer’s actions amounted to maternity discrimination then you may also be awarded an amount for injury to feelings (which can be between £900 and £44,000 dependent on the severity of the discrimination).

However, you do not recoup legal costs at Tribunal (although legal costs can be covered under home contents insurance) and it can be an expensive and mentally draining experience so I would encourage you to engage fully in the consultation process and try to get answers to the above questions. If you are still not satisfied, after consultation, then you may wish to seek further legal advice or try to negotiate settlement.

Where to go for more help

More information on where to go for more help can be found at maternityaction.org.uk/advice/dealing-with-problems-at-work/

I hope that is helpful and that it goes well.

@KittyMcTitty

I have been put at risk of redundancy whilst on maternity leave. I work in a small team. My employer has selected my role (business development and marketing manager) alone as our main contract is being reduced from September although he advised the detail hadn’t been confirmed) I asked for selection criteria as my maternity cover and junior has not been considered at all but was told they no longer require business development which whilst is in my job title isn’t something I have really ever done and I believe my tasks will just be rolled into my junior who is covering me whilst on maternity leave. They obviously need to make a saving but I can’t get real clarity on what tasks are being removed from the contract to make savings. Where do I stand with this?

Dear Geranium86

I understand from your query that, following the birth of your child, you and your husband intend to take 6 months leave with some or all of that leave being taken at the same time.

During this time you anticipate that you would be in receipt of Maternity Allowance (as you are self-employed) and your husband would be eligible to receive 2 months fully paid leave and 4 months half paid from his employer. However, you are unclear whether you could be in receipt of both as you have received conflicting advice.

Firstly, as you have correctly identified, you can claim Maternity Allowance for up to 39 weeks from the date you stopped work to have your baby. As you did previously, you will need to reduce your Maternity Allowance period in order to create shared parental leave and pay for your husband, provided he meets the qualifying criteria. Your husband won't have the legal right to take shared parental leave unless you ‘transfer’ some of your 39 week Maternity Allowance period to him.

The Shared Parental Leave 2014 Regs, reg 5, require a woman who is not entitled to maternity leave (you are not entitled to maternity leave because you are self-employed), but is entitled to Maternity Allowance, to curtail her Maternity Allowance in order to be able to transfer any untaken Maternity Allowance to her partner to take as shared parental leave and Statutory Shared Parental Pay. Your partner's employer is suggesting that they will be paying the shared parental pay in full, without recouping the Statutory Shared Parental Pay element, however, you will still need to curtail your Maternity Allowance by 6 months in order to create 6 months' shared parental leave for him to take.

Unfortunately, this means that your Maternity Allowance will end after three months. If you decide to take your time off as planned, you must give 8 weeks' notice to the JobCentre Plus to curtail your Maternity Allowance and your partner must give 8 weeks' notice to take his shared parental leave.

If, however, the leave your husband is able to take under his company policy is not shared parental leave and is some other form of leave, we would need to understand what type of leave this is.

I would recommend requesting a copy of the company’s policy and seeking clarity from your husband’s employer on the following:

1. Whilst the company pay position is clear – i.e. 6 months of pay at full and half pay for 2 & 4 month periods respectively, what type of leave would this 6 months off be categorised as?

1. Are there any notification requirements – i.e. the 8 week notice of intention to take the leave which is required under the Shared Parental leave legislation.

1. Does the company pay include any statutory pay elements – i.e. Statutory Shared Parental Pay?

The answers to these questions will help you be able to identify whether the leave giving rise to this enhanced company pay framework is in reality shared parental leave or, if not, what it is. Shared parental leave is a framework that employees have to “opt into” and requires compliance with the various prescribed notice requirements and qualifying criteria, therefore it isn’t a badge which can be placed on the leave after the fact. If it is shared parental leave, the position is as outlined above. If it isn’t then you will need to seek further advice on the interplay between Maternity Allowance and this type of leave as I suspect the reason why the DWP have made this statement is because commonly an employer policy such as the one you have described would be an enhancement of pay during a period of statutory shared parental leave. Once you have further clarity from your husband’s employer, I suggest giving them another call.

I hope this helps and all the best for your new arrival.

@geranium86

I am self employed and my husband is an employee at a tech company. When I had my first child, i claimed maternity allowance and my husband took his 2 weeks paternity leave and we then used shared parental leave, so he took some of the months of my maternity allowance and I didn’t receive anything during those months. Since then, his company has introduced a new parental leave scheme where they offer all employees (regardless of gender) 2 months full paid leave and 4 months half paid. So this time around my husband is taking 6 months off and I am also off work for at least 6 months. Do I have the right to claim maternity allowance from the DWP while my husband is off? Or does this count as shared parental leave even though he is being paid by his company and not claiming SPL? The HR department at his workplace have told us I definitely have the right to claim MA as his package is not SPL but when I rang the DWP they said they consider any leave taken by the husband to be SPL. I’m so confused!

Dear ChloeAlyss93

Thank you for your question.

Employers are not required to grant any request for flexible working. The law only goes as far as requiring them to consider a request. However, a request for flexible working can only be refused for one of the following reasons:
The burden of additional costs
An inability to reorganise work amongst existing staff
An ability to recruit additional staff
A detrimental impact on quality
A detrimental impact on performance
A detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand
Insufficient work for the period the employee proposed to work
A planned structural change to the business

What specifically did your employer say to you in relation to why your request was refused? Was it any of the reasons above? I would note that there is no legal requirement for your employer to give an explanation as to why that reason applies, although it is usually helpful for employers to do so and they commonly will. If they have simply said that they require you to be full time, that is not one of the permitted reasons (although it could relate to one).

It is also worth checking whether your employer followed the correct process in dealing with your request for flexible working. Do they have a company flexible working policy? If so, did they follow it? If they do not have a policy, there would be an expectation that they had followed the ACAS Code of Practice on “Handling in a reasonable manner requests to work flexibly”- see link below:

www.acas.org.uk/media/3977/Code-of-Practice-on-handling-in-a-reasonable-manner-requests-to-work-flexibly/pdf/11287_CoP5_Flexible_Working_v1_0_Accessible.pdf

It would be worth having a read of this document and checking that your employer has followed it. (Incidentally, it is also worth checking that your flexible working request met the requirements of a ‘valid’ request (as set out at paragraph 3 of the Code of Practice).

If your employer has failed to follow the correct process, you may be able to bring a claim to an employment tribunal in respect of this failure. I would highlight that, in respect of this type of claim, an employment tribunal cannot question the commercial rationale or the business reasons behind an employer’s decision to refuse a request. Neither can it substitute its own decision as to whether the request should have been granted. Rather, its role is limited to reviewing the procedure followed by your employer, considering whether the request was taken seriously and considering whether the reason given for refusal falls within the permitted reasons set out above.

Other potential legal claims you may have

If your employer is operating a blanket policy where there is a requirement for all employees to be full time and there is no objective justification for this, this may constitute indirect sex discrimination. This is because a policy of this nature would be likely to disproportionately impact women who tend to have the majority of childcare commitments and therefore find it more difficult to work full time.

From your post, it reads as if you have now left employment. If that is the case, you may also have a claim for constructive dismissal if the refusal of your flexible working request was the reason you resigned.

What should you do now?

If you have not yet left employment: I would suggest that you initially look to appeal against the decision not to grant your flexible working request. As part of this, you should ask for more information about exactly why your request cannot be accommodated. For the purpose of this process, it will also be helpful if you are able to make suggestions of ways that you think the arrangement could work. For example, if you were prepared to move to a different department or if you believe that you can structure your tasks in a different way to make the change workable, be ready to discuss that with your employer. Also, if you are prepared to have a trial period of the new hours to see if it works for everyone, make that clear. The more options you give your employer (and the more information you have to hand which shows you have seriously thought about how the arrangement could work), the harder it will be for your employer to reasonably be able to refuse the request.

As part of an appeal, I would also suggest mentioning that you consider that the requirement for all roles to be full time (if that is what you have been told) is potentially discriminatory on the grounds of sex. Whilst this language can potentially be inflammatory, it seems from your post that you are at the end of the road with your employer if they will not agree to a change of hours in any event, so often this type of language will make an employer take a request or an appeal more seriously.

If you are outside of the time permitted to lodge an appeal against your employer’s decision (or no appeal was offered), try to have a conversation with the person who decided your flexible working request to get more information about the reason for refusal and to make the above points in as positive, constructive way as you can. If they are not prepared to discuss this with you, I would suggest raising this as a formal grievance.

If you have left employment: It will be up to you to decide whether you wish to explore whether you have any legal claims against your previous employer. From the limited information in your post, it is possible that you have a legal claim in relation to (i) your employer’s failure to deal with the flexible working request; (i) potential indirect sex discrimination and/or (iii) constructive dismissal.

I would recommend that you seek legal advice to discuss your case in more detail and explore your options. You can find information on where to go for more help once the clinic has ended here.
maternityaction.org.uk/advice/dealing-with-problems-at-work/

You should seek advice quickly. There are time limits for raising a claim in an employment tribunal and they are strictly enforced. Generally speaking, you must start the process of raising a claim within three months (less one day) of when your request for flexible working was refused (time limits for the other claims will vary slightly but will not be less than this). The first step of the process would be to contact ACAS to register for early conciliation.

On a related point, I note that you say that your working hours were changed whilst you were on maternity leave. Were you consulted about this change? This information may be relevant to claims of indirect sex discrimination and constructive dismissal. You should make sure any advisor you speak with is aware of this.

I hope this advice helps.

@ChloeAlyss93

I wonder if you could help! I have recently ended 9 months of Maternity - 17th Sept 2018 until 17th June 2019 and then I had 1 week of annual leave. I had submitted a flexi-working request to drop my hours to part-time as when I was on maternity the business hours changed from 08:30-16:00 or 10:30-18:00 monday to friday and 9:00-13:00 on some The new shifts were anything from 08:00-21:00 09:00-17:00 on saturdays and 10:00-16:00 on sundays. Physically impossible with 2 small children (now 8 months and 5 years) and a partner who also works.

I had asked for 09:30-18:00 wednesday and thursdays and 09:30-16:00 on fridays however my request was denied and no alternative options given. I was told it would need to be full time or nothing, so I had no choice but to leave. However everyone I have spoken to seems to think, they can’t do this. The company is a multimillion pound company and therefore have more than one department however no options were given to me, just Full Time or leave.

My daughter has medical problems which I don’t feel is suitable for nursery at the moment as she is still young and still having tests etc carried out.

Can they do this or not? Should I have been given other options?

Thanks for all your help! xo

Thank you so much for the detailed response it is very helpful and gratefully received!