Query regarding maternity leave

bunnyb

Hi there, I work for a company that do not pay maternity leave. I have been working for this company for 3 years and am due to go on maternity leave at the end of August. They are notorious for telling woman that their job is no longer available on their return from maternity leave and offering them redundancy.

Initially I was informed that a contractor would be employed to cover my maternity leave but last week they informed me that this is no longer the case and due to financial restrictions and lack of budget they would be using existing internal resources to cover my maternity leave. This makes absolutely no sense as they do not pay maternity leave therefore they have already budgeted my salary for the remainder of this year.

It's obvious to me now that if they use existing internal resources to cover my maternity leave and discover that they can in fact manage without me they will make my role redundant. Is there anything I can do about this now to protect myself in anyway?

Should I question them on the "financial restrictions and lack of budget" excuse and ask them to give me a guarantee that my job will be secure until my return?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated?

Mrs OBumble

It would cost more than your salary to get a contractor to cover your role. Except in fairly junior / inexperienced roles, people on temp contracts usually want a higher rate to compensate for the uncertainty of not having a job in X months time, but not being free to look for a permanent job before then due to an obligation to complete the current assignment.

Not a lot you can do: if they find that your role is redundant, then it's redundant.

bunnyb

The workplace relations website states that:

If you were not doing your normal or usual job before the leave, you are entitled to return either to the job that you were doing before the leave or your usual job.If it s not possible or practical for your employer (or your employer s successor) to allow you to return to your old job, you should be offered a suitable alternative under a new contract.

But what happens if they have dished your job out to a few people and say they've made your role redundant? Just wondering how I cover myself now to prevent them doing this? Surely this is not possible?

davo10

You need to look up redundancy protocols & rules and how they relate to every worker not just pregnant employees. I don't know how it relates to your situation, but you may find that if the employer can show that your position is redundant irrespective of whether you are pregnant or not, then it may be difficult to prove you were discriminated against. Might be worth getting advice from an independent HR consultant.

livedadream

making pregnant or a woman who has just returned from mat leave redundant is the stupidest thing any company can do.

FOR CHRIST SAKE LET THE PREGOS ALONE!

a lecturer i had in uni told us this (and it is a joke before people start jumping on it but it has an onus of truth for those practising employment law or working in HR)

a women who is pregnant or just returned from mat leave could literally burn the building down and piss on it and should still be left alone...

its so messy and your company would find it very hard to prove that your role magically became redundant when you got pregnant... their record of paying redundancy to other working mothers would work against them too.

then again it leaves you in a good place for negotiating your 'redundancy' payment comments like ''baby, pregnant, working mothers, work life balance, allowances for mat leave, doctors visits, still doing my role to the same standard etc come in handy... suspicious lack of working mothers, short turn around in return to work and redundancy etc etc.

seamus

Short answer is that if they make your role redundant, no there's not a lot you can do.

You would be entitled to statutory redundancy payments and the correct process for redundancy though exactly as if you had been working for the company.

In terms of being made redundant, the employer is required to employ a fair selection process on those made redundant. So if there are 3 people currently doing your job, and they make you redundant just because you're on maternity leave, you can take an unfair dismissals case agains the employer.

A tough slog though, a "fair selection process" can be random selection in the case where all employees are practically equal. The employer can claim you were picked at random.

bunnyb

They could claim you were picked at random however they seem to make a habit out of doing it to people returning from maternity leave. It's disgraceful there's no protection in this day and age for incidents like this.
I may be imagining the worst will happen and perhaps my job will be safe when I return but I would prefer to be prepared for the worst. I really would have thought that maternity leave was more protected than that!!

livedadream

bunnyb wrote: »

They could claim you were picked at random however they seem to make a habit out of doing it to people returning from maternity leave. It's disgraceful there's no protection in this day and age for incidents like this.
I may be imagining the worst will happen and perhaps my job will be safe when I return but I would prefer to be prepared for the worst. I really would have thought that maternity leave was more protected than that!!

there is protection. you just have to be sure and willing to take it further.

this is a handy guide if you want to elevate your fears.

https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/Publications_Forms/Guide_to_Maternity_Protection_Acts.pdf

Diziet

If you find your role is redundant when you return, talk to an employment lawyer. There are strong protections in law and yes the company can claim what they like but their claim will be taken apart with a fine toothcomb. If it happens, take legal advise from a specialist.

Mrs OBumble

livedadream wrote: »

FOR CHRIST SAKE LET THE PREGOS ALONE!

How long do you recommend that this protection should last for - until the child is at school? Or 18? Or what?


AFAIK, there is nothing which the OP can do now - expect document that the pregnancy is no affecting how well they do the job. The only things she can to are if and when her position is made redundant.