Being made redundant while on maternity leave 23 April 2020 at 3:37PM in Redundancy & redundancy planning 5 replies 213 views

Julie1990

Hello so today I spoke to my employer about my return to work on 18th may as I'm currently on maternity leave then he rang me saying I'm being made redundant due to covid19 can they do this as I feel this is unfair 

lincroft1710

Fairness doesn't enter into it. Provided that it is done lawfully and all the rules are followed, then yes they can. 

epm-84

Julie1990 said:

can they do this as I feel this is unfair 

Another way of looking at it is if you weren't made redundant, someone else likely would be.  Is it fair for someone else to lose their job because their colleague has chosen to have a child? No.

However, you should ask you employer if they'll consider furloughing you for the period between 18th May and 30th June instead given COVID-19 has been given as the reason.  They don't have to but it will allow them to easily bring you back in July if things change and for you to get part pay for a few weeks.

Julie1990

It's how they have gone about it they only told me as I made contact with them and surely I shouldn't get effectively punish for having a child 

Undervalued

Julie1990 said:

It's how they have gone about it they only told me as I made contact with them and surely I shouldn't get effectively punish for having a child 

What evidence do you have that is what has happened? IF (big if) it is then you may have a claim against them. 

However pregnancy and maternity leave do not make you immune from being made redundant. If your job no longer exists or if costs are being cut overall and you have been lawfully selected for redundancy by a fair process then yes you can be made to go.

epm-84

Julie1990 said:

It's how they have gone about it they only told me as I made contact with them and surely I shouldn't get effectively punish for having a child 

It might have been you would have been made redundant sooner if you hadn't just had a child and in the circumstances they decided to wait until you asked about returning to work, opposed to disrupting your maternity leave by contacting you to start a redundancy process.

You've not posted anything on here which suggests you've been treated unfairly due to having a baby.  Like I already said if your employer decided your job was safe only because you'd just had a baby and made a childless colleague of yours redundant then that would be unlawful discrimination.

If, for instance, they had hired a temp to cover your maternity leave and then decided to keep the temp and make you redundant without any form of consultation process, then that would be unlawful discrimination.