Redundancy on maternity leave, but i think maternity cover is still working

[Cousel]

hi,
i have been told that i am being considered at risk of redundancy. i worked from home for a big USA firm. all my work was handed over to a cheap grad in the usa, who as far as i know will still be working there, is this unfair dismissal, or does this not apply across borders?

You have preferential rights to any vacancies (have a search in the archives here for Regulation 10). However, a redundancy situation is one where a job ceases to exist or ceases to exist in the location. That means that the situation you describe is potentially a legitimate redundancy situation I'm afraid.

So, if your job has been moved for legitimate business reasons, such as cost cutting or centralising a function, then there is nothing here to suggest unfair dismissal. If you believe the job was deliberately moved because your employer does not want you to return from maternity leave, then that's possible sex discrimination and you can look into it further.

Assuming you have a year's service, do bear in mind that there are procedures that employers should follow for consultation., even if there's no sex discrimination element (the service requirement doesn't apply if it's discrimination). Come back if you want to ask about those.

Sorry, probably not the answer you wanted....

Cousel - I was made redundant whilst on mat leave, because of the second scenario RibenaBerry described, i.e. they did not want me to return. I had always had a very difficult relationship with my Line Manager, who recruited me and then seemed to despise me as soon as I arrived.

I played the sex discrimination angle and received a hefty payout. Slightly easier for me as I am a HR Manager anyway, but do try and establish the facts as to why the role has moved.

My 'maternity cover' is still doing 'my' role now, two years later!

But I'm not bitter.

Honestly, I'm not , I found a pt role, on the same salary, and it honestly did work out for the best.

Good luck. It's a horrible situation to be on whilst you're on leave.

If you don't get open and forthcoming answers to questions and depending on how you want to play it you could serve a questionnaire under the Sex Discrimination Act. It would be very unwise of your employer not to answer questions. Concentrate on quality and not quantity of questions.

See this guide which explains how to use the procedure www.equalityhumanrights.com/uploaded_files/questionnaire_guidance_general.doc

thank you all so much!
As my firm is in the USA, i think they were shocked about the maternity leave in the UK, in the US you recieve 6 weeks, or 8 if you have a c section! i do think they don't want me to return as i won't be able to work as long hours, possible baby no2 etc, but this is just my feeling and i don't have anything to prove this. They are a very large firm and would have done their homework on this for sure.
Part of me is glad, as now i don't need to worry about leaving my DD1.