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Being made redundant when off sick & pregnant after being took off furlough

3 replies

sunnyy88 · 28/09/2020 12:25

Hi sorry if this makes little sense i'm in shock atm.

Ive worked as an office administrator for 2 years. I was furloughed in march and brought back in August, when I told them I'm pregnant and requested to start mat leave in November. After I told them, they reduced my hours from 37.5 to 25.5 but insisted it wasn't due to pregnancy so it was fine.
After schools went back my sons class had a confirmed case of covid so he had to isolate (this was before the childcare exemption was brought in). I got a stern email about my time off however I offered to work from home as I did in early March when covid kicked off but they initially refused and then agreed to let me do that. After a couple of weeks I spoke to my gp who signed me off work with SPD and sciatica, i notified my boss and said the sick note was for an initial period of 3 weeks however as there is no company sick pay policy I booked 10 days holiday to cover us to the end of this month. My boss sent an email to my work email saying this was approved last week, and in other emails stated i was still an essential part of the team.

This morning i received the email re voluntary redundancy for the position of office administrator, however its basically redundancy as i am the only office member of staff at the company. Theres 2 others - himself and his relative so i dont count those. I went to make copies of our conversations however within minutes of him emailing he booted me off my work emails,

Do I have a leg to stand on here? or do I accept its due to covid and leave it? I have received such mixed messages! Thanks

OP posts:
prh47bridge · 28/09/2020 12:48

They cannot unilaterally reduce your hours. They need your consent for the change. However, depending on how long you've been working the reduced hours, you may be deemed to have accepted this.

If this is voluntary redundancy you just don't volunteer. However, the fact you've been locked out suggests that this is going to be a compulsory redundancy. Given the way they have behaved you may have a case for unfair dismissal. Consult a lawyer who specialises in employment matters.

sunnyy88 · 28/09/2020 13:24

@prh47bridge

They cannot unilaterally reduce your hours. They need your consent for the change. However, depending on how long you've been working the reduced hours, you may be deemed to have accepted this.

If this is voluntary redundancy you just don't volunteer. However, the fact you've been locked out suggests that this is going to be a compulsory redundancy. Given the way they have behaved you may have a case for unfair dismissal. Consult a lawyer who specialises in employment matters.

Thank you, will look to take it further - its definitely unprofessional how i've been restricted from my emails already and i've requested copies of the conversations we had in the lead up to this.
OP posts:
WhoKnowsBaby · 30/09/2020 10:24

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