Wife's company shut down whilst she was on maternity leave - and didn't tell her...

PeteW

Yeah, erm, bit of a weird one... My wife's been on maternity leave for the last 9 months and tried phoning up today to find out what happens with regards to going back only to find the phone number had been disconnected. A bit of research revealed that the company had closed down and nobody had bothered to tell her.

The parent company is still going, but I don't yet know exactly what happened to her company - whether it went into administration, was sold, or just put to bed by the parent company.

Either way, they could have at least bloody told her!

Someone from the parent company's HR department will be speaking to my wife tomorrow, but just wondered if anyone had any advice as how to handle this?

Should she have been made redundant, should she be paid the holiday money she's accrued over the last 9 months, do they have to offer her a job at the parent company, what happens if she turns it down, and so on...

Don't know if anyone can offer any information, I just don't want her to go in there empty handed and get screwed over.

Cheers

Pete

Googlewhacker

PeteW wrote: »

Yeah, erm, bit of a weird one... My wife's been on maternity leave for the last 9 months and tried phoning up today to find out what happens with regards to going back only to find the phone number had been disconnected. A bit of research revealed that the company had closed down and nobody had bothered to tell her.

The parent company is still going, but I don't yet know exactly what happened to her company - whether it went into administration, was sold, or just put to bed by the parent company.

Either way, they could have at least bloody told her!

Someone from the parent company's HR department will be speaking to my wife tomorrow, but just wondered if anyone had any advice as how to handle this?

Should she have been made redundant Yes but she will only get a payout if she has been there over 2 years, should she be paid the holiday money YES she's accrued over the last 9 months, do they have to offer her a job at the parent companyNot sure but don't think so as presumably they are two seperate legal entitys, what happens if she turns it down, and so on...

Don't know if anyone can offer any information, I just don't want her to go in there empty handed and get screwed over.

Cheers

Pete

Hope that helps a little bit

PeteW

OK here's an update, she spoke to some complete !!!!! yesterday who was no help whatsoever. Apparently the parent company with thousands of employees does not have an HR department or even a single HR person, this guy was just 'covering'.

He said it was her fault - she should have contacted them about coming back to work, they didn't have to tell her anything.

He then said she could either relocate or resign - those were her only options.

I'm presuming that's rubbish and they have to offer her redundancy?

Sambucus_Nigra

PeteW wrote: »

He said it was her fault - she should have contacted them about coming back to work, they didn't have to tell her anything.

What did he say when she said that she WAS contacting them about coming back to work; that's how she found out.

Ask for her options to be sent to her in writing...and for a meeting to discuss the situation.

How long had she been there?

biggaz26

so far as i am aware they have a legal obligation to either relocate her or make her redundant subject to the relevant time constraints.

The parent company will have a HR department if they have 1000s of employee. If all else fails, if you can visit the head office in UK to argue face to face

PeteW

Thought I'd update this as the result may be useful information to anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation.
The CAB were very helpful and wrote various letters to the employer on my wife's behalf. In the end she was given three weeks redundancy pay, a month's pay in lieu of notice and 18 days holiday pay. Received the money on Friday, pleased it's all done with.

ceridwen

So - about 10 weeks pay in total then.

Congratulations that you managed to get some sort of resolution to this:T