I want to be made redundant - how can I do that?

[fruitstick]

I'm currently on maternity leave and don't plan to go back. I've moved and the commute would be too much.

There has been no maternity cover for me and I think my role is fairly redundant as I was frustrated before I left about the duplication of responsibilities.

I don't think they would replace me if I left or if they did it would be in a reorganised role.

I am sure they are just hoping that I don't return to work.

My question is... they are not allowed to make me redundant while I'm on maternity leave are they?

Is there anyway I can ask them to?

A long shot I know but the cash would be nice!

They are allowed to make you redundant while you are on maternity leave as long as the redundancy is nothing to do with your maternity leave and as long as they offer you any suitable role that is available.

You can certainly ask for voluntary redundancy but it's difficult to see any incentive for your employer to give it to you. If you ask them, you will be indicating that you probably won't return to work anyway, in which case obviously it's better for them to just wait for you to resign and not come back.

If you do come back, and your role is genuinely redundant, they can make you redundant then. But if they think you might not come back anyway, and you indicate that further by actually asking for redundancy, unless they desperately need to know for certain sooner than that, they will be better off just waiting for you to resign yourself and save the redundancy money.

What worked for me, was putting in a request for flexible working.

It was the last straw and they offered me redundancy. I almost bit the HR person's hand off when she waved the cheque at me!

Good luck.