sacked or made redundant whilst pregnant

dazleeds1978

my wife currently 17 weeks pregnant. She is been working for 1 year for her employer. As from her experiences for the last year with her employer he employee new staff and sack them just before they finish one year.

my wife works as sales staff and she is from Romania with marriage visa in the UK.

We are really worried once she is says she is pregnant they will find a reason to make her redundant.

It will be really great if you can get some advice for the below

• Her company opening branches in India with staff speaking Romanian she guess once this branch opened they will make all the UK staff (Romanian speaking) redundant is this legal to make my wife redundant for this reason.
  
• Can they make her redundant if tell her employer on the 23 week of her Pregnancy for a reason they can find eg she didnt reach her target of sales on this month.
  
• As my wife from Romania and she is on marriage visa for two years which of the following she is entitled to
  
  OML = Ordinary maternity Leave
  AML = Additional Maternity Leave
  SMP = Statutory Maternity Pay
  MA = Maternity Allowance

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks very much

MrsManda

She can be made redundant whilst on maternity leave, providing her pregnancy is not the reason is she was chosen for the redundancy over someone else.

She needs to tell her employer of her pregnancy at least 15 weeks prior to the week she is due to give birth.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Moneyandworkentitlements/WorkAndFamilies/Pregnancyandmaternityrights/DG_10026556

I don't know about maternity pay but I'm sure someone will be along with information soon.

ultrarunner

If she has been employed for over a year as you say, then she is entitled to both OML and AML. That is just the right to time off however, and not payment.

Providing her earnings are above the LEL (£97 / week currently) she will be entitled to SMP, at 90% of her average earnings for 6 weeks, then the remainder at £128.73. This is unaffected by being made redundant, if the employer tries to contend this I would ask them to check with ACAS.

She should be able to get the SMP paid as a lump sum, but there will be tax and NIC implications for this.

Maternity Allowance is paid by the DWP if there is no entitlement to SMP (usually due to low earnings or insufficient service)

I can't post links but there is more info on the HMRC website FAQ for SMP.

KiKi

Just to be clear on something: 'redundancy' means dismissing someone from a job because the role no longer exists (ie, there's no work to do). 'Dismissal' means asking someone to leave their job. You're muddling up the two a little in your post.


Either way:

• She cannot be dismissed for being pregnant, regardless of how long she has worked there. That's unlawful, and she could take them to an Employment Tribunal
  
• If she has less than 12 full months' service they could dismiss her for being pregnant but tell her a completely different reason; she'd then need to prove it was because of the pregnancy
  
• She can be made redundant, pregnancy or not. This means that they dismiss her because her job no longer exists (there's no work for her to do). They are not allowed to re-advertise her job or give it to someone else - the job has to no longer be there. If they give it to someone else or re-advertise for it (within a certain timeframe) then she can take them to an Employment Tribunal

In response to your specific questions:

• If they are opening branches in India and no longer require Romanian speaking staff in the UK, yes, they can make her (and others in the same job) redundant
  
• As I explained before, they can't make her *redundant* for not meeting her targets - redundancy means the role no longer exists. But yes, they can dismiss her for not meeting targets. Most companies would put a development plan in place first, though, to help her improve, especially if it's the first time she doesn't meet the targets
  
• I don't know what she's entitled to, sorry. Check with the Business Link website

I hope that helps, do ask more questions if you need to.

KiKi

dazleeds1978

ultrarunner wrote: »

If she has been employed for over a year as you say, then she is entitled to both OML and AML. That is just the right to time off however, and not payment.

Providing her earnings are above the LEL (£97 / week currently) she will be entitled to SMP, at 90% of her average earnings for 6 weeks, then the remainder at £128.73. This is unaffected by being made redundant, if the employer tries to contend this I would ask them to check with ACAS.

She should be able to get the SMP paid as a lump sum, but there will be tax and NIC implications for this.

Maternity Allowance is paid by the DWP if there is no entitlement to SMP (usually due to low earnings or insufficient service)

I can't post links but there is more info on the HMRC website FAQ for SMP.

Hi,

Thanks for your reply can you please let me know what you meant by 'That is just the right to time off however, and not payment.'

Thanks

dazleeds1978

KiKi wrote: »

Just to be clear on something: 'redundancy' means dismissing someone from a job because the role no longer exists (ie, there's no work to do). 'Dismissal' means asking someone to leave their job. You're muddling up the two a little in your post.


Either way:

• She cannot be dismissed for being pregnant, regardless of how long she has worked there. That's unlawful, and she could take them to an Employment Tribunal
  
• If she has less than 12 full months' service they could dismiss her for being pregnant but tell her a completely different reason; she'd then need to prove it was because of the pregnancy
  
• She can be made redundant, pregnancy or not. This means that they dismiss her because her job no longer exists (there's no work for her to do). They are not allowed to re-advertise her job or give it to someone else - the job has to no longer be there. If they give it to someone else or re-advertise for it (within a certain timeframe) then she can take them to an Employment Tribunal

In response to your specific questions:

• If they are opening branches in India and no longer require Romanian speaking staff in the UK, yes, they can make her (and others in the same job) redundant
  
• As I explained before, they can't make her *redundant* for not meeting her targets - redundancy means the role no longer exists. But yes, they can dismiss her for not meeting targets. Most companies would put a development plan in place first, though, to help her improve, especially if it's the first time she doesn't meet the targets
  
• I don't know what she's entitled to, sorry. Check with the Business Link website

I hope that helps, do ask more questions if you need to.

KiKi

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

Do you know if she can get support from the government if her employer sack her or made her redundant while she is on marriage visa in the UK.

Thanks

Any

How long has she worked/paid NI in the UK for?
I think that makes a difference..

dazleeds1978

Any wrote: »

How long has she worked/paid NI in the UK for?
I think that makes a difference..

She is been in the UK for 1 year and 3 months. She is been working for 1 year now paying income tax & NI.

Thanks

Any

I believe that Romanian citizens need to be registered with Workers registration scheme for the first 12 mths and once they complete that they have the same rights as other EU citizens.
I don't think the marriage visa means anything?? Never heard of that before.

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/eucitizens/bulgarianandromaniannationals/

Has she been registered? For full 12 mths?? It cannot be roughly 1 year, it must be fully completed 12 year I believe.

If so I believe she has right to JSA (Job seekers allowance) if she completed the 12 mths.

Has she worked

dazleeds1978

Any wrote: »

I believe that Romanian citizens need to be registered with Workers registration scheme for the first 12 mths and once they complete that they have the same rights as other EU citizens.
I don't think the marriage visa means anything?? Never heard of that before.

Has she been registered? For full 12 mths?? It cannot be roughly 1 year, it must be fully completed 12 year I believe.

If so I believe she has right to JSA (Job seekers allowance) if she completed the 12 mths.

Has she worked

No she has not registered we got married in abroad because i am British citizen we applied for marriage visa that's how she moved to the UK.

Thanks

Any

I don't understand why would you do that. She is from A2 counry, ie she has right to come here anyway.

But she is Romanian nationality and will be for some time, no matter that you married so it would have easier just to do what all other Romanians&Bulgarians have to do. She doesn't need a visa?? There are simple directories out there for such a situation so you can find out, but with your situation being different I am not sure the same still applies.

Basically when Romanian or Bulgarian comes they MUST register with Workers scheme. Once 12 mths of continuous work is completed they are considered residents and no longer have to let Workers scheme know about where they work etc all the time and are entitled to benefits.

I would have thought if your wife does have 12 mths of continuous payments then she will be entitled too. The only difference being on the need to register - she might not have done being here on marriage visa, but maybe you failed to do that. I don't know.