Redundancy while on maternity leave

[WalkinginWaynettaWonderland]

(I know there is another thread like this in this topic, but that seemed quite specific, whereas mine is a bit more general, I think)

I am currently on maternity leave from a bank which is making quite a few redundancies this week.

Could someone please explain my rights, or point me in the direction of where I could find them out? I am tying myself up in knots thinking about it, and I need to have a clear mind when / if the call comes.

Thank you.

Have a look at acas

here

You have special protection during maternity leave. If there is a suitable post available it should be offered to you over anyone else in the pool of displaced employees. Flowery posted a good link on t'other thread, it's worth a look.

the acas helpline is 08457 47 47 47 if you are worried and want to talk to someone in rl

Are you in a union?

My jobshare partner got redundancy on Maternity Leave - she got a month for every year and then on top of that she got all her maternity pay and her back to work bonus as they had effectively taken away the possibility of her coming back and earning it.

Ihave no idea if this is what youa re entitled to but good to have a hands up as to what other banks give.

thank you........I had been quite flippant about how redundancy would be great until it became a distinct possibility and now feel like crap .

Will investigate flowery's link.....

There are a few threads about this knocking about recently. Basically if there is a job that is suitable for you, based on your existing terms and conditions and hours, then it must be offered to you.

You can't be made to apply for it, or compete in a selection process, be marked on different criteria, all that stuff. If there's a job there that's suitable for you, it's yours.

Thanks flowery......just waiting for the call at the moment to tell me what's going on........

I worked for a bank and was made redundant on maternity leave a few months back.

I thought it was not possible and there was some kind of special protection against redundancy whilst on leave, but no. Not if there is a general redundancy programme - which there is in all the banks these days it seems.

Like Ilareggub points out above, you do get special rights in terms of looking for another job internally e.g. if 2 people were going for it, they have to give it you. Something like that anyway. But being on maternity leave does not protect you aginst losing the position in the first place.

Good luck. Hope you don't get the call.

Fuck.

Have just had the call. They said that they would consult with me for as long as I am on maternity leave. The HR bloke also mentioned something about working me to see what roles I could "apply for" - I pointed out that I needed to be given priority on those roles (naturally his response was "of course")
I am going in for a meeting with them next week. Any tips for what I should be asking, and what I absolutely shouldn't mention?

Right - need to make myself look as though I haven't been sobbing my eyes out (managed to hold it together till the very end of the conversation) and go and buy some food.

thanks

If the redundancies are being made this week they can't consult with you for the duration of your maternity leave.

If it's happening this week and any remaining roles are being allocated this week, you need to have yours allocated to you this week as well. You must not be made to 'apply' for anything. If there are, say, 10 roles available for 5 people, and selection is happening this week, one of those roles (assuming one is suitable for you) needs to be earmarked for you, then selection must happen on the basis of the other roles.

I think I posted this on one of the other threads but see here for a clear explanation, scroll down to the section on redundancy during maternity leave.

Thanks Flowery.

Sorry this is happening to you WinWW

Would like to ask why when on mat leave you have the right to get one of the jobs on offer over someone who has already had their baby/other kids & returned to work?
Don't mean this against you WinWW just would like to know the answer.

I imagine it is because, in the past, employers took maternity leave as an excuse to lay off and downgrade women on such a regular basis that legislation was put in place to redress the balance a little. Sadly, these practices still go on (although they are illegal).

Good luck Waynetta.

Yes random. If there is one job available, and two people, one is on maternity leave and the other has returned from maternity leave (or is even pregnant), then the employee on maternity leave gets the job.

It's a tricky one, not necessarily seeming fair to other employees, who may perform better in that job, have a better disciplinary/performance/attendance record (not suggestion that's the case here obviously), but that's the way it is. As lala said, probably put in place to redress the balance a bit - women who are not in the workplace could easily be at a disadvantage in terms of selection criteria, and also in terms of finding other employment.

I'm not a fan of positive discrimination as such, I think equal treatment is the way to go. But if this piece of legislation makes it more likely that women won't be discriminated against, I can see why it was brought in. And I will defend to the death (well, you know what I mean...) a woman's right to be protected by it.

Thanks for both explaning - just seems unfair for the others (what about future dads?) No offence to the op meant.

Well yes it can seem unfair. Frustrating for the organisation as well. If there is a situation where there are two people for one job, one person would clearly be better for it (is an asset to the organisation, positive attitude, high performer and all that), but you have to make her redundant just because her colleague (who perhaps has performance/attendance issues, would not be great at the job and isn't generally much of an asset to the organisation) happens to be on maternity leave.

That's a fairly extreme example obviously. I think the idea is that probably on balance, there are more women protected by this legislation who would have otherwise been discriminated against than there are employees missing out unfairly because of it.