Redundancy during maternity leave?

Hi all
I have been working with media agency in London for the last 4 years. Currently I am on maternity leave. Just a fortnight back I received a call from HR stating that I am at the risk of redundancy and they called me for consultation. I had two meetings with them. During the first meeting they explained the criteria for selecting me for redundancy. Which I completely disagree with, as I strongly feel that scoring had not been fair. I explained during the meeting as well as in my written communication about this biased judgement. I also mentioned that dragging me in this process during maternity leave was totally unfair as basis for selecting me was based on my appraisal which happened 10 months back. I had to go through a lot of stress and trauma as I had to take care of my baby all alone and I have to attend the stressful meetings where allegations were made against me which are completely biased and made up. In my last meeting they stated that they will send my cv to sister concerns and arrange for interviews. My questions:
• UK law states that if a person is made redundant during maternity leave, she will be offered alternative available job without interview. If that’s the law then why is my HR stressing for interview with its sister concern. Is it all made up?
• If I appear for interview and they reject me does that mean that my present organisation will use this as a weapon to decrease my compensation saying that we have given you the opportunity but you could not avail it. Do I lose my redundancy rights?
• If they make me redundant how much compensation I can ask for taking into account that I have worked with this organisation for 4 years (I was supposed to get one and half month’s salary upon joining back after maternity leave)
• Any other advice will be much appreciated

irmcallister

You have some great advice here Kelly, which you need to read and digest.

Simply, the company can make you redundant during your maternity leave. However, they can not use your maternity leave or issues associated with it leading up to your maternity leave as any part of the reasoning for assessing you against their review criteria.

Secondly, the method of assessment/review needs to be applied equally to all. Whether that be a LIFO or review system (the latter stands up in court more easily, hence its use), it must be applied equally and fairly to all. There is always an appeals procedure, and as you are on maternity leave it would be accepted good advice to appeal. The passing of your details to a sister company suggests the company feel the review has ended and you are technically to be made redundant, but you should appeal the decision - any later legal action would be aware of your rights, and not taking these choices would suggest you accepted the accusations and redundancy decision fully.

You seem to believe that part of the reason for your assessment was biased or at least poor. Were you aware or advised of the issue/s at any point before this? When were you aware of these issues, was it in a review or via verbal/written warning, if at all? If not aware, then this is potential evidence of bias by the employer.

Now to answering your questions:
1. Yes, you can be made redundant during maternity leave. If a job exists, then you must be offered a position. But if it is not, they must show they tried to find you work before assessing you for redundancy
2. Your compensation and any redundancy payment is based on (a) the law, (b) your contract. As you are on maternity leave, they can not dismiss you because you can't make an interview - you must agree to attend, without duress
3. Your redundancy compensation is based on your period of employment, which would include your statutory maternity leave. Technically, you can now take up to 2years maternity leave, with the later parts form around 9months unpaid, but all this would count to your period of employment, and hence redundancy compensation

All that legal stuff aside, here's the reality. They seem to want to get rid of you - would you want to go back to such an employer? I'd suggest not, and their using hard ball tactics to achieve that would strengthen that choice. May be they have a need like many employers to reduce staffing levels, but using strong arm tactics on a woman on maternity leave is daft.

I suggest you accept that you will be leaving this company, and set out to extract the maximum amount of money from them. Any employment lawyer would lap up/salivate at the opportunity to take a hard ball tactic employer to court for handling a lady on maternity leave - courts take a very, very dim view of such employers! Have a chat with your local citizens advice bureau, and ask for guidance/an introduction to a suitable local employment lawyer. Or check the law societies list of local employment lawyers, and seek a female lawyer who undertakes such cases.

I wish you luck Kelly, but if you handle this 50% correctly the employer will regret the day they choose to mess with a lady on maternity leave.

Good Luck!

kamirsam

Unfortunately, during this economic crisis a lot of companies are having to make their staff redundant, whether on maternity leave or not. If your company is following all the procedures then all employees are treated fairly in the selection process. My company used to pay off people based on LIFO (last in first out) but they now use the scoring process which is actually far fairer as imagine you had worked for a company for 2 years and had no warnings, no bad timekeeping or absences and there was another employee who had been there for 5 years who had terrible absenteeism & timekeeping - under the scoring system it would be the employee who had been there the shortest length of time who would keep their job, whereas under LIFO the person with the shortest length of time would be paid off.

Also, bear in mind that there are probably no vacancies in any of your sister companies as they will be in the same boat

Robert

You can be made redundant whilst on maternity leave. But your dismissal on grounds of redundancy cannot be related to your maternity leave.

There are a few things you will need to check out. Firstly when did the process start. If it was after 6 April 2009 the statutory dismissal procedures do not apply and the Ac as code of practise, which replaces the statutory scheme, specifically does not apply to redundancy dismissals.

The requirement to offer suitable alternative employment applies in all redundancy situations, but that is only with the same employer. The status of the "sister" company should be investigated. Depending on the facts, it might be deemed to be the same business as your employing company, but it might not. In my case, the sister company was not the same business even though we were in the same building. The only commonality between the two companies was one director and the fact that we bought in the services of their I.T. department when we needed to.

The amount of redundancy pay has been increased in the recent budget. As no date in the future was announced for its introduction, the increase will take effect immediately.

Any severance package will contractual notice pay, any other payments you have accrued but not received, payment for accrued but taken holidays and redundancy pay.

gail

You need to do a bit of research on the net regarding redundancy during maternity leave. Following is an extract from the acas web site

During the 26 weeks ' ordinary maternity leave (plus 26 weeks additional maternity leave), she is entitled to benefit from all her normal terms and conditions of employment, except for remuneration (monetary wages or salary). She can do up to 10 days' work during her maternity leave without losing any Statutory Maternity Pay. You and she should agree on payment for the time worked.

At the end of maternity leave, she has the right to return to her original job. If a redundancy situation arises, you must offer her a suitable alternative vacancy if one is available. If you cannot offer suitable alternative work, she may be entitled to redundancy pay.

For further advice and guidance please call the Acas Helpline â€“ 08457 47 47 47

I think a quick phone call to acas may be your best bet.

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