Redundancy wile on maternity leave

DeadmanSquawking · 17 May 2018 at 6:03PM

Hi there
Just wondering if anyone can help. Don’t know if iv posted this in the right area of this forum
My wife has just started her maternity leave about 4 weeks ago, and has now been given a redundancy letter. All her colleges have got one to. The letter says from the 1st June she is redundant and they will continue to pay her maternity pay until it finishes. The thing is that the owenr has decided to lease the business out and the new lease holder isn’t taking any current staff on he is bringing his own staff in. My question is can they legally do this. My wife has worked for the company for 15 + years and been given 3 weeks notice according to the letter.

Will be very greatful if anyone can shed some light if they can bring in the own staff and let exciting staff go. And surely after 15+ years she’s entitled to more than 3 weeks notice.

Many thanks

McKneff · 17 May 2018 at 6:08PM

Redudancy is 1 weeks pay for each year of service and notice is 1 weeks notice for each year of service. That is the statutory minimum.
Not sure if they are both capped at 12 weeks and maternity pay may muddy the waters a little but i get the feeling they are trying to diddle her.
Look at the .gov site and acas site

antrobus · 17 May 2018 at 8:50PM

Redundancy pay

You'll normally be entitled to statutory redundancy pay if you're an employee and you've been working for your current employer for 2 years or more.

You'll get:

half a week's pay for each full year you were under 22
one week's pay for each full year you were 22 or older, but under 41
one and half week's pay for each full year you were 41 or older

Length of service is capped at 20 years.

https://www.gov.uk/redundant-your-rights/redundancy-pay

Statutory notice is basically one week for each complete year of continuous employment, up to a maximum of 12 weeks. The employer has the choice of requiring the employee to work their notice (or stay home on gardening leave) and paying them as normal, or making a payment in lieu of notice.

Is wife in a union? Do you have any kind of legal expenses insurance? It is sometimes bundled in with home insurance.

I'm not sure why the employer has given the impression that no redundancy pay is due. In any case, it's either redundancy or unfair dismissal.

ACAS have a guide on Managing redundancy for pregnant employees or
those on maternity leave
http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=3832

Masomnia · 19 May 2018 at 8:13AM

Legally it sounds like she should have TUPEd across to the new company. If she is redundant then she is owed quite a lot of money.

It's clear cut that she's owed something. Well worth getting proper legal advice here. As above see if your home insurance gives you legal cover. She should start the process with ACAS too.

Good luck.

TBagpuss · 30 May 2018 at 2:44PM

It doesn't sound as though she or her colleges are redundant, if the business has been sold / leased then their roles are not redundant and they should simply be transferred to the new company / owner.

If what has happened is that the owner is closing the business and the premises are being leased to a different business then they probably are redundant as the business employing them is closing.

I'd suggest that your wife and her colleagues get some proper legal advice as soon as possible, and in the mean time, don't sign anything!

Redundancy wile on maternity leave

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