Redundancy! Weird Day!

After a meeting with the Directors of a Charity I am book keeper at - I am to be made redundant as they are outsourcing all the accounts processes to our accountants. I work 20 hrs per week and have done for just over a year. I announced I was pregnant on Monday 30th and today 2nd have been told of the redundancy and that discussions with the accountant have been ongoing for a long time without my knowledge.

Find this hard to believe as I am the one that does 80% of all accounts and the accountant the big stuff. If that was not enough...

I have been sent a letter with a copy of an email sent to the Accountant dated 01/11/17 (yesterday) from the Directors - Requesting a cost for full accounts/bookkeeping service from them with an added sentence to say "I also need your email to state negotiations have been going on for several months". Now I know I should not have this email but it was left on my desk by maybe a concerned Director, it all seems very dubious - Any idea where I stand here?
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  • Fireflyaway
    Fireflyaway Posts: 2,766
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    Unless you can prove its directly related to your pregnancy there isn't much you can do. If your job is deemed to no longer be needed, they can make you redundant at any point. It might be true that negotiations have been happening. Its common for directors not to say anything until final decisions have been made. I'd start looking for another job. I found a job while pregnant. I was early enough to hide my bump and i choose not to say anything for vobvious reasons. I was hired and spent 8 years there.
  • Masomnia
    Masomnia Posts: 19,506
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    I think you'll struggle to show that the reason for your redundancy is your pregnancy, which really is the only recourse you'd have, ie to claim that your selection for redundancy is due to your pregnancy. It doesn't sound like it is.

    During consultation I'd ask what they're offering in terms of redundancy pay, even though you're not entitled to anything unless your contract provides for it. Personally I'd say that I felt I'd been treated badly in light of the email and say that I felt I did deserve payment, especially with a baby on the way!
    “I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.” - P.G. Wodehouse
  • lincroft1710
    lincroft1710 Posts: 17,545
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    If you have only been with the company for just over a year, they can dismiss you without reason although as you are pregnant this may not be a wise move on their part
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  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882
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    Throw TUPE into the mix.
  • scaredofdebt
    scaredofdebt Posts: 1,637
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    Stick to your guns, my wife worked for a charity for 5 years and things started to get "difficult" once she told them she was pregnant.

    In the end she looked at going down the constructive dismissal route and they then offered her a severance package which was worth almost as much as if she had won an industrial tribunal, so she accepted it.

    Try to document as much as you can and consider legal advice.
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  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    Oh, if that email is genuine, you have all you require to make a claim of discrimination and unfair dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy. That time line, with the letter, is gold dust. So I disagree with those who say there is no evidence. With just the time line, if you were my member, this would be costing them dearly. With that email on top... Precious.

    In your shoes I would be standing in the line at my union office - and if not in a union, at a solicitors.
  • antrobus
    antrobus Posts: 17,386 Forumite
    sangie595 wrote: »
    Oh, if that email is genuine, you have all you require to make a claim of discrimination and unfair dismissal on the grounds of pregnancy. ....

    Not unfair dismissal. OP has less than two years service. Wrongful dismissal would be the allegation.
  • phillw
    phillw Posts: 5,593
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    If the directors and the accountants are willing to falsify evidence then you may still have a fight on your hands. If you knew how the email came onto your desk then you would have a stronger case.

    Charities may have other trustees than the directors and they may have members who vote for the trustees at an AGM. You need to look into this as it gives you more leverage.

    What outcome do you actually want?
  • phillw wrote: »
    If the directors and the accountants are willing to falsify evidence then you may still have a fight on your hands. If you knew how the email came onto your desk then you would have a stronger case.

    Charities may have other trustees than the directors and they may have members who vote for the trustees at an AGM. You need to look into this as it gives you more leverage.

    What outcome do you actually want?

    A chartered accountant should be unwilling to lie at an employment tribunal, I've seen people struck off for less.

    OP, ask for support that the negotiations have been going on for months, from the accountants, or ask them yourself.
  • badmemory
    badmemory Posts: 7,631
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    Perhaps another question to ask yourself would be do you really want to work for people like this. Charities are becoming notorious for not actually being very charitable & for being quite bad employers.
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