Quote:
Originally Posted by Bluelouboyle  My sister-in-law works for a major French cosmetics company. Her boss has always been a bit of a wanker but up til now she put up with it.
Not any more.
She is on maternity leave at the moment, due to go back in January. On Friday work called her and said they are either making her redundant, or she can choose to re-apply for her old job. This is way out of line, as the UK law states that after 6 months companies have to offer somebody returning from maternity leave a similar role. Her job, which has been slightly altered, is basically the same. So she shouldn't have to re-apply anyway. It looks like they want to get rid of her and keep her replacement on. Trying to do it while she isn't working is an easier way.
The real kicker is that her baby is dead. He had a genetic, terminal disease and only lived 6 weeks.
This really pisses me off. Most companies wouldn't do this. Or maybe I'm being naiive. Sorry, I needed to vent.
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Pretty much as you said, though they could rely on arguing there is no suitable alternative. If there is room for only one rather than two people doing the same job then they may have a case - I am not an employment lawyer. However, you also are not entitled to do something which causes detriment by virtue of someone being on maternity leave. If there are grounds for saying she wouldn't have faced redundancy but for her absence then this might fly.
Both the below are from the government's Business Link website.
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg...type=RESOURCES
"
Redundancy during maternity leave
If a redundancy situation arises at any stage during an employee's maternity
leave, you may not be able to continue to employ her under her existing contract of employment.
In these circumstances, you must offer her (before that contract ends) a
suitable alternative vacancy,
where one is available. This includes a vacancy with an associated employer or with a successor to the original employer. The new job must start immediately after the end of the original one and must:
- be suitable and appropriate for her to do, and
- have terms and conditions that are not substantially less favourable to her
than if she had continued to be employed under the original contract
If you fail to comply with these requirements and dismiss the employee, the
dismissal may well be unfair. She may also have a claim for sex discrimination.
If you end up making an employee on maternity leave redundant because you had no suitable alternative work to offer her, the dismissal may be fair.
Note that, on dismissal:
- her maternity leave period comes to an end, but
- her entitlement to statutory maternity pay (SMP) continues until the end of the 39-week SMP period (if it hasn't already ended)
You must provide written reasons for dismissal to any woman you dismiss or make redundant while she is pregnant or on maternity leave.
See our guide on making an employee redundant.
Maternity leave and protection against detriment or dismissal
Employees are protected from suffering a detriment or dismissal for taking, or
seeking to take, maternity leave.
Detrimental treatment and maternity leave
You must not subject an employee to any detriment by acting, or deliberately
failing to act, because she:
- took maternity leave
- sought to take maternity leave
Examples of detrimental treatment include denial of promotion, facilities or
training opportunities which you would normally have made available to the
employee.
If an employee believes you have treated them detrimentally under these
circumstances, she can take a claim of sex discrimination to an employment
tribunal."
Sounds like it might be a tribunal case but I would strongly suggest speaking in the first instance to a local law centre. I don't know where you are but if you are in London here is a list of them...
http://www.lawcentres.org.uk/directory/location/London/
This is the Law Centres homepage which should help find one locally to her.
http://www.lawcentres.org.uk/
And these days, more companies are taking a chance on the limits of their rights. The decent ones are sweetening the pill with discretionary redundancy packages that give people decent breathing room. A few years ago, no-one would have been daft enough to try it on unless they had a pretty watertight case of failing to perform or unacceptable behaviour. Ironically that was at a time when most people would have found it easier to get alternative work and may not have taken the fight back to them in the same way they might do now.
