Redundancy whilst on mat leave

glasgowdan

I don't think from reading that though that someone on maternity has any MORE right than anyone else? Other staff also have the right to be offered a position if there is a suitable one for them.

getmore4less

glasgowdan wrote: »

I don't think from reading that though that someone on maternity has any MORE right than anyone else? Other staff also have the right to be offered a position if there is a suitable one for them.

I think it says if a job exists they have to be offered it.
If multiple jobs they get a choice.

So they can't offer it to anyone else first.


If two people are on maternity then I don't know how you prioritise.

glasgowdan

If that's the case then that's a highly unfair and sexist approach! Someone else at work can have all the experience and have worked themselves to the bone to ensure they are as qualified as possible, but someone on maternity gets an offer ahead of them even if she is less qualified, just because she has had a baby!

Not really directly on topic, sorry! I'm sure rules like this will be phased out over time as the pc-crazy culture slows down a bit.

jem16

glasgowdan wrote: »

Not really directly on topic, sorry! I'm sure rules like this will be phased out over time as the pc-crazy culture slows down a bit.

Why should it be phased out?

The rules were brought in to protect women who were often discriminated against by employers who didn't regard them as having the same worth as men - a throwback to the years when men were the breadwinners and women were just there to bring up children. If women went out to work they were seen as just earning "pin money" and therefore didn't matter if they were paid off.

SarEl

glasgowdan wrote: »

SarEl I have confirmed this with my other half (she is an HR manager) and she says that what you say only applies in a normal situation - i.e. completely independant of a redundancy situation. If there are redundancies then her job CAN be at risk whether on maternity or not, so I am completely correct.

Best not give people the wrong idea on forums like this as it could cause them problems!

Wow. I am impressed. Your OH is a HR manager. Well I am an employment law barrister with more than 30 years experience. And judging by the number of tribunals that I win against employers who have taken the advice of their HR manager before they did whatever stupid and unlawful thing they did, I wouldn't care to take the word of an HR manager over the law.

In a redundancy situation the law says that women on maternity leave have expressed rights which do not accrue to other people.

Regulation 10 of the Maternity and Parental Leave regulations 1999 can be found here http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1999/3312/regulation/10/made

and there is substantial case law on the interpretation of this regulation. If there was a suitable vacancy then the OP was entitled to be offered it - not made to compete for it (or her existing) job.

I would suggest that your OH read the relevant regulations and case law before she ends up facing me or someone like me in a tribunal.

And for your information you are entirely INCORRECT - the most frequent application of this legislation is in redundancy situations (why else would it exist - under what other circumstances would someone on maternity leave not have a job to return to?) and you are the person giving people "wrong ideas" on this forum - not me. Perhaps you should be more careful of giving advice on subjects you know nothing about, and then displaying your obvious prejudices in comments about "pc-crazy cultures". And by the way "at risk" does not mean that your benefit to the company is questionable - jobs are at risk and not people. Your advice is prejudiced and poor - how dare you comment on mine or that of others in such offensive tones when you have no idea what you are talking about?

eamon

There should really be two stickies for HR people on this board. One for advice that HR people should give and the second for advice that they shouldn't give.

glasgowdan

SarEl you seem to have something bothering you... take it easy!

I'm approaching this from a common sense direction - does it seem fair to you if soemone on maternity gets to go to the front of the queue even if they don't deserve to based on merit and experience?

glasgowdan

SarEl wrote: »

under what other circumstances would someone on maternity leave not have a job to return to?)

You SERIOUSLY must know the answer to this! Unless you have never had a job outside of your law books.

Annisele

glasgowdan wrote: »

I'm approaching this from a common sense direction - does it seem fair to you if soemone on maternity gets to go to the front of the queue even if they don't deserve to based on merit and experience?

SarEl wasn't commenting on what she thought was fair...she was commenting on what the law says.

glasgowdan

It will be interesting to see if the OP updates us on how this pans out. I suspect the outcome but will keep it to myself as there are some big egos on here.