Redundancy - WWYD ?

[Pandorissima]

Hi all,

I need a bit of advice and perspective please. I have just been dismissed (redundancy) and I am wondering what I should do. The timeline was :
I was on maternity leave from last November, planing to come back to work early July. In June, my CEO called me to announced that they were putting me on furlough, and presented it as a good thing, as my pay would be higher than just the maternity pay. I check with him in early July, and he tells me that the activity is still quite low, and so no need for me at the moment. End of July, he calls me, and tell me I am being dismissed, and that we are starting the notice period. he says he is sorry, and will do everything he can to help me find another job.

This is the first time I have been in this situation, so I have contacted a solicitor to check what were my options. She explains to me the process, with the consultation meeting, and as it has not been followed, suggested the dismissal was unfair. She also mentioned the redundancy pay, that my CEO seem to completely ignore. If I was to make a claim, she told me my chance to get a settlement of 3 to 6 months of salary were very high, due to both those points.

The thing is I have no idea what I want to do. Of course this settlement would be very nice, as I have 2 young kids and I am afraid finding an other job might take a while in the current environment. But at the same time I do not want to be too agressive, and think it could be smarter to benefit from their help and network to find something else. They also agree for me not to reimburse my maternity package (they topped up the maternity pay to my full time salary for 6 month, on the condition I was to come back for 1y to work for them - otherwise this amount was to be reimbursed)
WWYD in this situation ? I would be very interested to know other point of view on this situation !

Hi Op,

If you have been made redundant then yes you have been dismissed. It just sounds as if you have done something wrong but of course you haven't - it is just redundancy is a dismissal.

In terms of negotiation I agree with glasshalfsometbing that you don;t need need to be aggressive. Further asking for a settlement agreement is not confrontational. I'm an employment lawyer for companies and I would expect to have to settle in such a case.

Just a point on tax (noting I can't advise you) I notice early someone said you could get 5 months free. That's not how it works. If you look at the government website is states: "Redundancy pay (including any severance pay) under £30,000 is not taxable. It may also be possible for some of the other payments to be tax free but it depends upon what the payment is for. You will need to get advice on this.

Also do check your household insurance to see if you get legal advice included with it.

OP it pains me that you’ve received such lazy legal advice, no doubt from a trainee or newly qualified solicitor. 3-6 months pay is just a default figure that’s thrown around by inexperienced legal staff when they aren’t sure how to advise and are being really generic and cautious so I would take that with a pinch of salt.

Even taking out any claim for unfair dismissal, your statutory minimum entitlement would be 9 weeks gross redundancy pay (which is more like 3 months net), plus 9 weeks net notice pay. You’re already at five months pay before adding in any claim for a protective award (if appropriate), unfair dismissal and loss of earnings compensation due to a complete lack of procedure, or maternity discrimination/sex discrimination if your mat leave or sex influenced the decision! You’re also entitled to the remainder of your statutory maternity pay and to claim for loss of statutory rights etc...

I would find a decent lawyer and get a letter sent looking for a decent settlement. If you’ve already been dismissed then you have nothing to lose. But on that basis of the facts presented here I’d be arguing for a hell of a lot more than a settlement of six months pay.

Hi

You need to write to your employer - email will do.
Say that you have sought advice and you need formal notification that your role is at risk, how consultation will be handled considering that you are furloughed and full details of the redundancy package you are entitled to. Keep it simple (essentially as I have outlined here) and do not mention the word dismissal.

This will force them to either admit there is no consultation process and package (in which case you have a case) or do the decent thing and offer a package (the most likely scenario).

You need something in writing from them ASAP

Sadly Covid-19 has put many companies in the situation where there will be redundancies. This is what you should be looking for:

Holiday pay from Nov to July = 75% of your annual allowance ie a minimum of 5.6 weeks annually would be 4.2 weeks and it is taxable

Notice is one week per year worked unless your contract is say three months. This is taxable

Redundancy is a minimum of one week per year worked under 40. This is tax free up to £30,000.

Your loan to top up maternity pay is repayable if you left the company or are dismissed. I would argue neither is the case here as you are being made redundant. Being dismissed indicates that you are at fault.

If you don't have legal insurance as part of your house insurance then contact ACAS
Good luck, times are hard at the moment

OP and others- do you think you were put on furlough (it reads as though this was before you had actually planned to return to work?) so that you weren't on maternity leave when they made you redundant? My limited understanding is that it's much more difficult to make somebody redundant whilst they are on mat leave as there are more protections in place? I am absolutely not qualified though but it was just a bell that rang as I read it!

"Holiday pay from Nov to July = 75% of your annual allowance ie a minimum of 5.6 weeks annually would be 4.2 weeks and it is taxable"
What? You have no idea when her holiday started, or whether she has already taken some?

@Pandorissima I would ask to have the thread moved into the employment section if I were you, there are a couple of HR/employment law experts who give correct advice on there.

I’m not going to give you advice.

Except.... ignore the promises of “support” and “networking”. These are personal promises, and should be seperate from business /formal employment issues.

Instead, think “what ££ am I entitled to for redundancy pay?”. It is not “aggressive” to tell your employer that as they are making your role redundant they need to pay you your redundancy package. You will feel like a fool in 3 months time if you don’t.

Call ACAS. They are very helpful, confidential, and free for this type of advice.

I know it’s hard if you don’t like confrontation but you’ve been there a long time and they’re taking the piss. There’s no harm that will come from trying to negotiate a setttlement with them and you can agree a reference and for the agreement to remain confidential as part of that.

think it could be smarter to benefit from their help and network to find something else.

No. Just that. It would be far smarter to go after them for everything.

GET LEGAL ADVICE.

People on this thread, while well intended, have ZERO clue as to your legal situation.

Check out Pregnant Then Screwed

pregnantthenscrewed.com/

I would definitely pursue them for sex discrimination - sounds like they just picked the person on mat leave to dismiss rather than following a proper redundancy process. Get a good employment lawyer and get them to negotiate on your behalf. I would estimate about a years salary

Very sneaky to have put you on furlough as this will have taken away your absolute right to a suitable available vacancy if there was one. This has happened to a lot of women.

You should not have to repay your extra contractual maternity pay if you are dismissed for redundancy.

Contact Maternity Action helpline. They are vb at the moment. Deadlines are very short so don’t delay. Don’t get ripped off here!

We're just moving this thread to employment issues for the OP.

Thank you all for your advice, this is really helpfull.
They have sent me an email this morning with the breakdown of the payment. They agree with the notice, the days off and the redundancy pay BUT they want to offset the days off and redundancy pay vs my maternity "loan". So are basically just paying me the notice period.
I will seek formal legal advice, as I feel they are now trying to be very sneaky.

Very sneaky to have put you on furlough
It isn't. They had agreed on a date OP would be back and it sound like it was at the latest date they could come back.

The payment they've worked seems to take 3verythingbinto account so what is left is whether the contract that says you'd have to pay back the enhanced maternity pay if you are being dismissed TROUGH NO FAULT OF YOURS is legally valid.

Does the contract says just 'dismissed' or dismissed for gross misconduct'?