Maternity leave, company changed names

dazultra2000

Hi,

My wife fell pregnant last July and started maternity leave in Feb this year. Baby was born in April and we recieved maternity pay as normal up til last month.

By mid-June we were worried as she had not recieved her weekly paycheque. We waited another week just in case there was a delay.
At the end of June we recieved a letter, totally out-of-the-blue from her company explaining that the company had ceased trading (supposedly due to liquidation), and that her P45 and final pay cheque were attached.

We had no notice and no reasoning behind it.
We learnt that all employees recieved a P45, but remained employed and the company changed it's name.

We have now learnt that they have hired someone in my wife's position, doing the exact same job.

We have followed up with HMRC about recieving maternity allowance, which is progressing. However, they are treating this as a pay-dispute rather than redundancy.

Where do we stand on this? My wife has been under significant emotional stress because of these events and this is affecting her wellbeing. She believes that the company just wanted to "get rid of" her and did this as a way of "legally" doing it.

Do we have any course of action we can take, either as a result of:

-The lack of notice of the redundancy
-The emotional stress caused thereof
-The fact they have continued trading and hired a new member of staff
-Anything else?

Thanks in advance.