An employee was made redundant by her employer and made a successful Employment Tribunal Claim on the basis of unfair dismissal and sex discrimination.
In Denysenko v Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Ltd, the employee returned from maternity leave and a few months later was made redundant. The Employment Tribunal found that the employer had discriminated against the employee on the grounds that they:-
• refused to allow her to return to her previous role after maternity leave;
• continued to employ her maternity cover in her previous role;
• put her at risk of and selected her for redundancy.
As the Employment Tribunal found her dismissal for redundancy was connected with her maternity leave, her dismissal was automatically unfair.
On return from maternity leave, employees are entitled to return to the same job on the same terms and conditions of employment. If an employee cannot have her job back, she is entitled to a suitable job on terms and conditions at least as good as her job before maternity leave started.
Employees can be made redundant whilst on maternity leave or after returning from maternity leave, provided the reason for redundancy is not connected with maternity leave or pregnancy.
If you have had problems returning to your job after maternity leave, please contact Ashley Hunt, Vaishali Thakerar or Carrie-Ann Randall on 0116 212 1000 now or complete one of the on-line forms.
