Question about childcare vouchers,redundancy and maternity leave!

[Bishberro]

Just wondered if anyone could help me with this. I'm currently on maternity leave and was due back to work at the end of June. Since my wage went down to stat maternity pay and I'm now on nil pay, my company have still been paying my ?243 of childcare vouchers for me each month and were going to do that until I returned to work in June. However, now I've just been made redundant and officially leave the company at the end of March. As I would have had my vouchers paid until June which was when my mat leave ended, are the company still obliged to keep paying them for me until then even though I'm not officially employed there from the end of March?

I would ask my HR department but as they've been complete arses over the whole redundancy thing, I wanted to approach them armed with the info already. Thanks

[Princess]

Bishberro, I'm really sorry to hear your news. A very similar thing happened to me at the end of last year. I would say "yes" they do need to honour your vouchers if this was agreed before you went on leave but I'm by no means a lawyer.

A really handy thing I discovered was the free legal advice you are entitled to as part of your house insurance. They helped me fight for every penny I was entitled to and it really helped. I walked away jobless but with the pay out and benefits I deserved after 11 years service which was a far cry from where we started when they initially handed me my envelope!

Good luck

Px

[ladywotlunches]

I don't think they are obliged to pay them, sorry. They are paying them even though you are on nil pay because they are a benefit in kind and you were until end March employed by them. But once you have left they don't have to pay anything more other than your redundancy money. I suppose the argument would be that if you are now 'not working' then you don't need childcare - and once you start working again the new company will take on the vouchers.

[Fuschia]

are you getting any pay in lieu?

[helenat1970]

Princess gives some brilliant advice. Also - it is against the law to make someone redundant during maternity leave - you could challenge them on this.

If they've messed you around (and it sounds like they have big time), it's unlikely they'll reinstate your job - but you could ensure that you get the maximum payout.

I am so sorry for what you are going through. I too was made redundant, literally on the first day back after maternity leave. I got a statutory payout + holiday entitlement during the maternity leave + notice. I think that's the minimum you are due. But as you have a case of unfair dismissal on your hands, I would ask a lawyer to help you get compensation.

All the best. The only other thing I can offer is that there is life after redundancy!

[womanofdulwich]

check out maternity alliance- they are clued up on this.

[Trish]

I'm genuinely shocked by how many women seem to be made redundant when on maternity leave or directly after returning to work. I hope everything works out for you and you turn it into something positive in the long run.

[toast]

It is a worry when someone gets made redundant on ML, do check out that they are legally in the right, it does sound fishy, good luck.

[akc74]

I, too, got made redundant on ML - I don't believe it is illegal per se - IF there is a valid business case. If you think you can prove that your maternity leave was a factor in your redundancy that is a different matter. Usually they realise they are on slightly shaky territory and will offer better than the statutory redundancy package. In my case ACAS were involved from the outset to avoid a painful negotiation directly with my old bosses.

[kemurf]

Hi

I'm so sorry to hear about your situation - I know redundancies are horribly stressful and as you're on mat leave I imagine this has come as a huge shock and must be even worse.

I work in HR and having read the above posts I wanted to reiterate what some of the posts say. I hope the info below helps you.

If your end of employment date is the end of March, then all benefits including Childcare Vouchers, payment in lieu of service and notice period etc are usually wrapped up in this payment. Unfortunately you are not entitled to further Childcare Vouchers no matter when you were due back at work because at that point the contract of employment ends between you and your employer.

It is not illegal to make someone redundant whilst on maternity leave, contrary to what somebody else posted. However it is illegal for an employer to make the post redundant if the only reason is because that person is on maternity leave - that is sexual discrimination or unfair dismissal - like akc74 says.

You should have been told and given information on the business reasons for making your post redundant, planned restructure, who would absorb the work you did etc and within that should be the redundancy pool information - ie how the company chose your post and how it applied fair criteria.

If you feel you have a case for sex discrimination, unfair dismissal or even constructive dismissal then ask for the grievance procedure and follow that through - you can still do this even though your employment contract has just ended and you must put this in writing - for your sake.

If you are unsatisfied with the procedure with your employer, having gone through it, then you may want to consider an Employment Tribunal.

Contact ACAS or the CAB for impartial advice and check redundancy on the government's website; http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/index.htm

All the best,

Kate

[busymum]

This seems wrong because you are entitled to 12 months maternity leave if you want, and would be entitled to staff benefits throughout, including childcare vouchers. Just because you'll be off work doesn't mean you want to give up your childs nursery place, in fact quite the opposite you'll need those days to go for interviews etc etc (if that's what you decide to do)

Were you asked to fill in a form when you went on ML to inform your employer when you would be leaving sending in a copy of your MAT B1 certificate? We are asked to do that. If you said you were taking the full 12 months then presumably they would have to give you all your staff benefits for 12 months, but I don't know this for sure, but if not they would surely need to add this to your redundancy compensation package. I would definitely call your home contents insurance company and see if you've got employment lawyer cover of some kind, they could argue this for you as they did for Princess.

I can only imagine how stressful this must be right now, as I've been through similarly stressful situations with my employer whilst on ML, although not redundancy - but I am being made redundant shortly (voluntary redundancy and I am extremely delighted to have been accepted) I have been asked to work 1 month of my notice period and will get the other 2 months as payment in lieu and was expecting to claim my childcare vouchers and some other childcare benefits provided by my employer during the worked bit of my notice period, but not the payment in lieu of working bit.

If your notice period pay is being paid to you as payment in lieu of working then you might not get childcare vouchers during that time but I would argue that your notice period wouldn't actually kick in until you'd had 12 month ML?? I'm not sure if it will work but worth a try.

If you have a union then they can advice of all these things and represent you at meetings etc

Good luck