being made redundant and I am 21 weeks pregnant! Advise needed please.

[lardybump]

I am being made redundant due to the credit crisis (I work in finance so I did expect it). I have been working for my company since Jan 2000, but left to have a baby in 2007 I decided not to go back so received my P45. A month later I was offered a part time job at same company so I went back in Jan 2008 it was on a new part time contract, that states "No previous employment with our group counts as part of any continuous period of employment." I have been working 28 hours a week.

My questions are:

A) As I have only been working since Jan this year and I am not aloud to count the previous period will I be entitled to redundancy pay.
B) Will I be eligible to any maternity benefit from the government?
c) If There was only a month between me handing my notice in and going back part time, do I have any grounds to request they count my previous period of work (I know this is a long shot but I am grabbing at straws).

from what I remember if you have been working for your employer for 15 weeks you will be entitled to maternity pay SMP
the benefits helpline is 0906 102 9833 or just google maternity pay

Have to be quick lardy but

A) No. Although you should ask anyway. If you'd asked at the time you were taking up the new job I would have strongly advised you to negotiate continuity of employment - it's important as you are finding out. But as things are, no you are not entitled to redundancy pay, although you are obviously entitled to your notice period.

B)Yes. In fact if you are still employed 15 weeks before your due date you will still be entitled to SMP from your employer, even if you then leave employment. Do you know when your last day of employment will be?

If not, then you should be entitled to maternity allowance, read here.

C)No legal grounds but request it anyway. Redundancy pay isn't that much anyway so it's not going ot make a huge difference but you could ask for an ex gratia payment to reflect your previous long service. Every little helps.

HTH, am rushing off, will check back later.

Worth noting that redundancy pay is tax free whereas pay in lieu of notice is taxed as it's deemed salary, therefore if possible try and negotiate...

there you go lardy, I told you flowery would know the answer!

Just to add v quickly, because you are pregnant they will be very keen to ensure you don't feel anything is unfair in any way. So making a bit of a fuss wouldn't be a bad idea, even if technially legally they are not doing anything wrong....

technically

Also, has anyone doing a similar job to yours been offered alternative employment within the company? If so, were you offered the same alternative employment? Companies are obliged to offer suitable alternative employment to pregnant employees before offering it to anyone else. Worth checking.

Thank you all so much. I have checked my contract and it says they have to give me a months notice. I am 21 weeks tomorrow so a month from today I will be 25 weeks and 2 days so that should mean that I am perm employed in the 15 weeks before baby due thus I think they have to pay my maternity pay....

I havent had my letter yet just verbal so dont know what they are offering if anything.

Thank you flowery as soon as I have my letter I am going to fight for what ever I can get and will be making a fuss. I know the redundancy isn't pregnancy related and I am not the only one being made redundant.

The DWP produce a booklet that calculates relevant maternity dates. Call them tomorrow and ask them to send it to you. It's very specific as far as dates, and if you're on the cusp - i.e. within 2 days, I'd double check to be sure.

I've just been through this with HMRC and they are very exact.

Good luck

thank you.

oh lardy, so so sorry to hear this. hope you can get anything and everything x