On mat leave, redundancies announced at work- when I’m a month away from being there 2 years

[BastianBaIthazarBux]

I’ve been at my current job in retail for 22 months- joined the company August ‘22. Became unexpectedly pregnant after 6 months, went on mat leave late October. Am now on SML which ends end of July, have a month of AL before returning to work early Sept when baby will be 10 months.

At least, that was the plan.

They’ve just announced they’re planning redundancies as revenue is down by a large figure. There is to be consultation with employee representatives for the next month, and individual consultations from mid June to 1st week of July. Everyone getting the chop will be notified 1st week of July.

People requesting voluntary redundancy will get however much statutory redundancy pay they’re entitled to, 2 months salary plus an extra month for volunteering, which I guess means those not volunteering get statutory plus 2 months salary, but I may be wrong. I know I’m not going to be entitled to any statutory as I’ll be a month short of 2 years’ service.

When he called me my HoD said there may be other roles in the company that some people can apply for. I know that legally where suitable alternative roles exist they are supposed to offer them to women on mat leave first without requiring us to apply- but surely all they have to do is say there aren’t any suitable alternative roles, and that’s it? Plus, “suitable” is a very ambiguous term- my team has a shift system and hybrid working pattern that is unique to us, that we applied for in the first place because it suits our individual circumstances.

I’m so worried and stressed, I feel sick all the time. I wish I didn’t have this hanging over me for the next six weeks. I’m trying to work out just how screwed I am here, and also to think of any questions or points for our employee representatives to raise in the group consultation meetings.

Any advice would be gratefully received!

Nobody?

I would start making a back up
Plan.

Apply for other roles. Then you have options!

Won’t you have two years by the end of your notice period?

No. My notice period is 4 weeks, they will be notifying of redundancies between 1st and 5th July- I’ll have been there 2 years on 2nd August which is exactly 4 weeks from the 5th.

Oh how worrying for you. Firstly, request yours plus all available roles JDs, then you can see which are suitable - focus on responsibility level and skill set rather than working pattern right now. Then you can argue that one or more could be a suitable alternative to your role. Make it clear you'd like to stay and go to the consultations to talk about your options.

Quite likely the date they confirm redundancies, won't be your last date of employment, so your notice period would likely tip you into statutory x

I think if your last day of notice lands on your two year anniversary you would qualify because it’s within your notice period but ring ACAS to check.

That will only be the case if they wait until the 5th to notify me. If they do it earlier in the week I’ll lose out.

In terms of reaching your 2 years' service, it's only your statutory notice period that counts, not your contractual notice period, so it's highly unlikely you would qualify for a redundancy payment.

However, they should not be making you redundant at all. You have extra protection because you're on maternity leave, as you know. If they have suitable alternative employment, they must offer it to you. No, you can't guarantee that they won't try the "oops, we have nothing suitable" card, but don't just let them off the hook.

At your consultation meeting(s) ask for information about alternative roles. The other roles don't need to match your current shifts or work pattern for your employer to consider you for them. Now, you might find out about the other roles and decide that you couldn't do the shifts or work pattern that comes with those roles, which is fine. But those differences would not be grounds for your employer to not even consider you for them.

www.acas.org.uk/redundancy-protection-for-pregnancy-and-new-parents

And get in touch with pregnant then screwed.

pregnantthenscrewed.com

If there are suitable jobs available, they have to give anybody on maternity leave priority when offering those jobs. Obviously there might not be any suitable jobs.

I think there are different rules if you are on maternity leave....check with ACAS.

Am I reading right that you chose voluntary redundancy you'd get 2 months salary (potentially 3)? That is quite generous these days. Could you start applying for jobs ASAP to test the market ?

Voluntary is statutory redundancy pay, 2 months enhanced redundancy pay plus an extra month for voluntary, so 3 months minimum. I have taken that to mean that involuntary would be the same minus the extra month.

The thing is there are no other jobs around like mine, with similar hours and remote working pattern. The only reason I was happy to go back when I’m planning to was because the hours mean I don’t have to put my baby into childcare. I wasn’t planning on doing that until at least January when he’ll be just over a year old.

I worked quite senior level during redundancy process. We matched and slotted people on mat leave with 60% matching skills in new job descriptions. Although I will say that each company is different and certain managers jiggled JD around.

Sorry this is happening but unless your on mega money and your boss hates you most companies air on the side of caution with mat leave/ pregnancy (I realise this doesn't apply to company) and is just my experience