Redundancy and Pregnancy

[Bob McG]

Hi guys, hoping you can help me out a bit here.

My fiance was told last week that she was being made redundant, the consultation period to last 60 days. This would take her to the 27th May, and the paperwork she has received indicates with the redundancy payment 1 months salary in lieu of notice.

We are also expecting our 2nd baby later this year. She wasn't going to take Mat Leave until September, but given this, it has thrown up some issues. The earliest she can take it is middle of June (can't remember the exact date), and we think that the payment in lieu of notice means that her actual finish date will be 24th June, assuming everything we're reading is correct.

As you can't make someone redundant while pregnant, would we be right in thinking that this means her employer (national supermarket, she works in a distribution centre) can't lay her off, and would have to pay Mat Pay until April next year?

Ironically, she is an HR Manager, and knows most of the stuff above as fact/law, just the notice period part needs clarified at the moment, hopefully the rest is academic.

But her boss was on holiday last week when this went down, and is looking into it for her going in tomorrow, and I'm looking for some advice to back up our position.

Any help would be much appreciated.
Bob

 

[kulture]

Hi guys, hoping you can help me out a bit here.

My fiance was told last week that she was being made redundant, the consultation period to last 60 days.

How can this be a consultation period if they have already decided to make her redundant?

This would take her to the 27th May, and the paperwork she has received indicates with the redundancy payment 1 months salary in lieu of notice.

We are also expecting our 2nd baby later this year. She wasn't going to take Mat Leave until September, but given this, it has thrown up some issues. The earliest she can take it is middle of June (can't remember the exact date), and we think that the payment in lieu of notice means that her actual finish date will be 24th June, assuming everything we're reading is correct.

As you can't make someone redundant while pregnant,

Really? Where does it say that? I agree that it is difficult to do this and potentially leaves the employer open to claims that the person was being made redundant because they were pregnant.

would we be right in thinking that this means her employer (national supermarket, she works in a distribution centre) can't lay her off, and would have to pay Mat Pay until April next year?

Do they know she is pregnant?

Ironically, she is an HR Manager, and knows most of the stuff above as fact/law, just the notice period part needs clarified at the moment, hopefully the rest is academic.

Is it really law, or just company procedure?

But her boss was on holiday last week when this went down, and is looking into it for her going in tomorrow, and I'm looking for some advice to back up our position.

Any help would be much appreciated.
Bob

The basic position is that before you make anyone redundant you have to have a consultation where options are discussed. No-one should be told that they will definitely be made redundant before the consultation.

 

[sjbeale]

She can be made redundant provided the true reason is the job is being made redundant and not because she is pregnant.

If she is made redundant she will still be entitled to be paid statutory maternity pay.

Consultation needs to be meaningful and not seen to be a "done deal".

 

[Paul Norman]

As above, it is a myth that you cannot be made redundant whilst pregnant. Of course, that is not a valid reason for redundancy, and a person is not redundant, the post is.

It sounds as though they have announced a consultancy process, which is vital that they do, however preconceived you might believe the outcome to be.

 

[Bob McG]

There's 3 of them covering the distribution centre just now, but the roles are being centralised largely, to leave one "Training Manager" or something like that, and they are being consulted about applying, although apparently its not certain one of them would get it - something to do with going for interviews with others from other centres for the same reason, I don't really follow it.

The missus can't apply as she'll be going off, and doesn't want to go back to full time anyway. But the documents she has states that her role is effectively ending.

As for the "can't be made redundant" part, that's my bad. I meant what was said, that they should pay mat leave when she goes off and THEN they make her redundant. This is what we really need, as their policy is also she would receive 6 weeks full pay before mat pay only, which would help us out before the wages drop significantly.

Oh, and it turns out, the day she can take her mat leave at the earliest, is 4 weeks after the end of the 60 day consultation, which means she would be on the last day of her paid notice, if that helps.

She is working this afternoon, and hopefully her boss will be able to help. It's just rotten bloody timing.

 

[sjbeale]

As I said she is entitled to her full maternity pay ie 6 weeks at 9/10 of salary followed by 33 weeks at statutory payment. This would be in addition to any redundancy payment.

If there is a role on offer I would strongly advise that she applies even if she intends to go off on maternity leave. If the role is full time and she gets it she could then do a flexible working request when she plans to return asking for part time hours. It will be for the company to cover the role while she is on maternity leave and not for you to worry about. If she is the best person for the job she should be offered it regardless of whether she is pregnant or not. If there is a hint of pregnancy/maternity discrimination about the the process then that is pursuable in an employment tribunal. The company's procedures have to be water tight.

If your wife is an HR Manager she should know all this anyway.

 

[Bob McG]

Good news yesterday, she's getting the Mat Pay as her qualifying date is 1 day before the end of her notice!! We're getting it all in one lump, as she has to be removed from the payroll, so we'll have to separate it and drip feed into our main account, but it's a load off. Not sure about the first 6 weeks full pay, but at least one issue has been resolved.

Thanks for help and advice guys.

 

[Bob McG]

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but we're having problems with getting the mat pay sorted now, need someone experienced in Payroll for advice.

As said before, her paid (but unworked) notice finishes on the 24th June, so technically she's still employed. However they seem to have put her through as a leaver from the 27th of May, and have messed up paying the redundancy, meaning its late, hopefully to be in the bank in the morning.

We've been emailed from a friend at her work who was chasing it for us, that because she's been marked as leaving already, her full mat pay, which appears to be the full 6 weeks pay plus 33 weeks mat pay, which they are paying separately, is being processed with tax code 0T w1m1, meaning no tax allowance. I understand this is the case for payments after someone has left (been researching all night), but technically she's still employed, so surely this should be paid and processed at her current tax code?

The way they're doing it is taking away almost half of the mat pay, as they are processing it as if the amount we're receiving is her weekly wage, taking the yearly salary way into the 50% bracket. We need the mat pay and redundancy to see us through to the end of the year at least, as it'll be January before she will start looking for a new job (at least that was the plan), but this will mean we'll be almost wiped out by that point.

Any help or advice anyone can give would be greatly appreciated, my fiance is stressing loads, not good for the baby, and I'm just raging about the whole thing. Spent the past few hours using my basic payroll knowledge to do some figures on what I reckon she should be taxed for the year, and it's not even 40% of what they're planning on taking off this payment alone.