on mat leave and at risk!!!

livewire600

scary stuff this is my first ever post although i have been reading for a fair few years.

i am currently on mat leave having had a baby 7 weeks ago who is alittle poorly and we have been in and out of hospital. On 28th jan i returned home after a 3 day stint in hospital to find a letter advising me that there would be a complusory meeting for me to attend on 2nd feb (which i didnt attend as was miles away and i couldnt leave the baby) anyway a letter arrived in the post to explain that i am under consultation of 30 days to expire 2nd march. the company (big very well known) the position/ job role i do will still exist but they are reducing the number of us given the current "banking climate" i have to go into work when summoned to fight for my place so to speak. Now my situation is slightly odd as i only returned off mat leave last april and then went off again in november of 08 to have this baby so by the time i retrained i was only producing figures for 3 months.
i am not overly bothered to be honest about being made redundant as at this moment in time i am more concerned about my little girl than my job (i have worked for them for 10 years)

my questions are

i have read conflicting information about rights while on mat leave, the job i do will still exist but maybe not in the office i work in some say i have the right to be offered one of those jobs others say not- help????


after the 30 day consultation period what happens then, ie would i then get notice of redundancy and probably payment in instead of notice???

oh the joys-

please be nice as i have serious nappy brain at the moment

livewire xx

lornz23

Hi Livewire600,

I am so sorry to hear that your baby has been poorly and this really isn't what you need right now. Have you looked on the direct gov website which has all sorts of information on it and a help line you could call to ask about your rights?

I don't really know the answer as most infomation is hazy so maybe someone else will come along to offer some advice which knows better than me but maybe worth getting some legal advice!

Good Luck

Buddug_2

I'm not 100% sure of the ins and outs of employment law in terms of how employees have to treat staff on maternity leave when redundancies are being made. However, I have been told by other people that someone on maternity leave is 'untouchable' when it comes to being made redundant (based on their own experience) - but like the earlier posts say, check the internet, or try giving Citizens' Advice a call - they should be able to give you a quick answer. Hope things all work out for you!

chivers1977

There was talk of redundancies when I was pregnant and the info I was given that I would be first in line for any redeployment within the company. Whether this is right or not, I don;t know. ACAS is the best place to query I think....

tessie_bear

are u in a union ? you can be made redundant on maternity leave....i was that said i was in a great union and got an amazing settlement from a job i wasnt intending to back to.....good luck and id strongly recommend taking advice

BlueIsTheColour

Whilst on mat leave you can be made redundant, but if there are posts available to be done, that you are able to do, similar work to what you do now, if not the same, then as a person on mat leave you do take priority over a person doing the same job but not on mat leave, if that makes sense.

As has been said, contact Acas and they will talk through your situation and offer the right advice.

Sorry to hear about your baby and hope everything comes good for you soon

cazziebo

Buddug wrote: »

I'm not 100% sure of the ins and outs of employment law in terms of how employees have to treat staff on maternity leave when redundancies are being made. However, I have been told by other people that someone on maternity leave is 'untouchable' when it comes to being made redundant (based on their own experience) - but like the earlier posts say, check the internet, or try giving Citizens' Advice a call - they should be able to give you a quick answer. Hope things all work out for you!

Just to clarify - employees on maternity leave can not be discriminated against, but neither can they be subject to positive discrimination ie treated more favourably than others.

Debt_Free_Chick

Agree - employees on maternity leave should be treated exactly the same as other employees. So if there are redundancies in areas where there are employees on maternity leave, those on leave should be considered along with all the others and on exactly the same criteria.

It's an urban myth that those on mat leave should be "left out" of redundancy considerations and certainly a myth that they are "untouchable".

You say that your job will still exist but there will be fewer staff. From a redundancy point of view, this is seen as "there are currently x posts for an ABC and in the future we only need y posts". So it's not "the job" as such, but the number of posts for that particular role.

As part of the consultation process your employer has to consider if there are other suitable jobs that you (and others at risk) could do. And you should go along with this and take it seriously - although the main reason you do that is so that it "looks good" if you ever wanted to go to Tribunal, as the Tribunal will expect everyone to have played fair and followed all the rules.

After the consultation process, yes - you will be told if you have been selected for redundancy or if they have another role for you.

If you are redundant, then what you actually get depends on your contract of employment and, to a certain extent, what is custom & practice within the company. You should ask your employer to explain what would be paid as part of the consultation process - to be honest, it doesn't make much of a difference as if you are selected, then there's no (well, very, very little) room for negotiation.

HTH

dla76

i was dut to return to work in sept at the end of june i recieved a phone call from hr asking me to in for a meeting as there were some changes happening in the practice.I was told in the meeting my job was at risk if redundancy & the hr lady said they had managed without me very nice of her! The manager said he was looking at a lot of peoples jobs as they need to save money.To cut a long story they employed another hca while i was on my mat leave they said not to replace me but the old hcas post who left 3 months prior to the start of my mat leave she is more qualified than me & they put her on stop smoking course they never offered me any training.
The 3rd meeting i attended i was told mre or the other hca wll be made redundant & i had to do a competitve interview yes like that was fair i havent had a full 6 hours sleep in 8 months i knew id get least points in the interview & now i am made redundant i only have to accept now that im jobless just because i had a baby.

Sambucus_Nigra

dla76 - you might want to start a new thread so that you can get advice relating to your own situation.

SarEl

dla76 wrote: »

i was dut to return to work in sept at the end of june i recieved a phone call from hr asking me to in for a meeting as there were some changes happening in the practice.I was told in the meeting my job was at risk if redundancy & the hr lady said they had managed without me very nice of her! The manager said he was looking at a lot of peoples jobs as they need to save money.To cut a long story they employed another hca while i was on my mat leave they said not to replace me but the old hcas post who left 3 months prior to the start of my mat leave she is more qualified than me & they put her on stop smoking course they never offered me any training.
The 3rd meeting i attended i was told mre or the other hca wll be made redundant & i had to do a competitve interview yes like that was fair i havent had a full 6 hours sleep in 8 months i knew id get least points in the interview & now i am made redundant i only have to accept now that im jobless just because i had a baby.

Some grammar would help too. It is very difficult to tell what you are saying happened and when it happened, because there are no real paragraphs and sentences. Try telling us again, with as much detail as possible about what has happened. And could you please clarify - you are in additional maternity leave (6+ months) and not the first six months of ordinary maternity leave?