Redundancy on Maternity Leave

Hello,

I'm looking for a bit of advice and wondering if it's worth me seeking legal advice so I thought I'd put down here and you all can tell me if I'm being unreasonable and if I'm just as well rolling over and taking my basic redundancy.

My employer is making my colleague and I both redundant after employees in our other office have lost workload. We are both currently on maternity leave and due a return to work bonus. Are we entitled to this still? It does say in the policy they can rescind the bonus at any time so I'm thinking they will try to duck out of this one.

One of the reasons they've given us is that we have no local line management to develop our skills, but a year and a half ago they moved our management from our office to down south. Is this ethical?

I had income protection insurance of 70% for 12 months before I went on mat leave and due to being on mat leave, couldn't claim on this. So they're really messing with my income by doing it whilst I'm on mat leave. Have I any grounds here or is it a case of tough luck?

Am I entitled to pay for my KIT days because I can't actually do them?

The office is staying open with other people still based there so it's not a location redundancy and my work is basically being bumped to cover people who have been inept and lost their work load as the company has lost the work.

That's the basic story, I'm happy to go as they've been disgusting to employees and I suspect this is a way to get out of paying us the bonus.

Thanks for any help! :)

Comments

  • eamon
    eamon Posts: 2,319
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    Have you more than 2 years service?



    Ignore the bonus element its not guaranteed.



    Maternity leave won't offer any protection from redundancy but reading your post suggests that you would rather not return anyway. However your employer may be selecting you and your colleague unfairly see the text below from gov.uk
    Unfair selection criteria

    Some selection criteria are automatically unfair. You must not select an employee for redundancy based on any of the following reasons:
    • pregnancy, including all reasons relating to maternity
    • family, including parental leave, paternity leave (birth and adoption), adoption leave or time off for dependants
    • acting as an employee representative
    • acting as a trade union representative
    • joining or not joining a trade union
    • being a part-time or fixed-term employee
    • age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation
    • pay and working hours, including the Working Time Regulations, annual leave and the National Minimum Wage

    I'm not sure on KIT days, gov.uk says that upto 10 days can be done but also that it's up to the parties to agree pay & other terms before you start.


    I'd be inclined to wait & see what happens re the amount of any redundancy etc and if you don't like it or are unsure then speak to your union (if in one) alternatively you may have a legal policy with your home insurance. I for one would be getting proper legal advice, you may not want the job any more but I'm sure you would like as much money as possible to go away quietly..
  • Kynthia
    Kynthia Posts: 5,664
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    It sounds very unethical to only make those on maternity redundant. Perhaps speak to yiur union or ACAS as legislation has tried to protect against this sort of thing.

    KIT days are only with the agreement of both parties and not an entitlement and your bonus can be rescinded. If you want to go then get advice on whether they are breaking the rules by targeting you for being on maternity leave, then offer to go voluntarily with a higher redundancy figure.

    What term in your insurance policy allows them to not pay out due to being on maternity leave? Considering pregnancy and maternity leave are protected characteristics in the Equalities Act, I am surprised and it might be worth challenging this.
    Don't listen to me, I'm no expert!
  • sangie595
    sangie595 Posts: 6,092 Forumite
    Delphinum wrote: »

    The office is staying open with other people still based there so it's not a location redundancy and my work is basically being bumped to cover people who have been inept and lost their work load as the company has lost the work.



    Thanks for any help! :)

    This is really the critical bit, and I can't quite grasp what you are saying. The company has lost the work you do? So isn't this redundancy? Why do you think otherwise?
  • Ozzuk
    Ozzuk Posts: 1,884
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    Not an area I'm familiar with however I do know you can only make roles redundant, not people. Do you do the same role as your colleagues that have remained, do you have the same 'missing' line management? If you don't and they've gone after you and your friend purely becuase you are on redundancy then you *may* have a case.
  • Thanks, yes I have 4 years' service and the other colleagues do the same job as me but my work has not gone. The work I do will be 'bumped' to someone else who isn't on maternity leave and my colleagues who are keeping jobs have management in their offices - my manager too. With regards to the insurance, I think it's a case of as I'm on mat leave, I have no income so there's no income to protect so they wouldn't cover me on mat leave.

    I'm going to ring a solicitor this morning and get some information as to fees, etc as being on maternity, we're not exactly flush.

    Thanks for all the responses! :)
  • getmore4less
    getmore4less Posts: 46,882
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    Would you relocate?

    Who is doing your work now?

    what outcome do you want?

    You have consultation to make a case they need to keep you and get rid of the others.

    the decision to consider merging all the people that do one type of work in one location and reduce numbers at that time as the total work has gone down is a redundancy situation.


    If you don't want a job at the new location then your job is redundant.

    Any suitable alternatives at the current location?
  • lisyloo
    lisyloo Posts: 29,555
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    The work I do will be 'bumped' to someone else who isn't on maternity leave


    Do you believe this is discrimination or are there other performance factors at work.
    Have you had a consultation and seen how you have been graded? because your employers defence will be that they kept those other employees on performance grounds and if they have "evidence" (subjective criteria and scores) then it's hard to argue against.
    Have you seen the criteria and your scores?
    Have you appealed if you think they are unfair?
    IME very hard to make a case (even if you perceive it's unfair).



    Have you checked your home insuurance for free legal cover?
  • Me2you
    Me2you Posts: 104 Forumite
    Being in maternity shouldn’t mean you are protected.
  • nicechap
    nicechap Posts: 2,852
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    Me2you wrote: »
    Being in maternity shouldn’t mean you are protected.

    Pregnancy is a protected characteristic - something I was ignorant of until I joined this sub fora.

    Having a protected characteristic doesnt mean you can’t be sacked or made redundant, but it does provide a level of protection against funfair dismissal.
    Originally Posted by shortcrust
    "Contact the Ministry of Fairness....If sufficient evidence of unfairness is discovered you’ll get an apology, a permanent contract with backdated benefits, a ‘Let’s Make it Fair!’ tshirt and mug, and those guilty of unfairness will be sent on a Fairness Awareness course."
  • Comms69
    Comms69 Posts: 14,229
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    being on maternity means that the person would have first refusal on potential redeployment.
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