An employee won an unfair dismissal claim against her employer because it failed to offer her suitable alternative roles during her maternity leave when she had been informed she was at risk of redundancy.
In Badger v Telford and Wrekin Council, the employee was a youth worker who went on maternity leave. While she was on maternity leave, the council decided to close the youth schemes and put the employee and a colleague at risk of redundancy. The employer wrote to the employee on maternity leave and invited her to a consultation meeting, although the invitation did not make it clear that this was a redundancy consultation meeting. At the meeting the employer advised the employee that she could go on the council’s re-deployment register to seek another role within the council. Although the employer did notify the employee of vacancies, it did not offer any of those vacancies to her, and made her redundant.
The Employment Tribunal found that the employer had not done enough and had put the onus on the employee to look for vacancies and apply for any that were suitable. The Employment Tribunal found that the employer should have considered whether the employee was suitable for any of the vacancies and offered her any suitable roles. Its failure to do so meant that the employee’s unfair dismissal claim succeeded.
If an employee is on maternity leave and put at risk of redundancy she should be offered any suitable alternative vacancies. It is not sufficient for the employer to simply inform her of vacancies. If an employer does not offer the employee on maternity leave any suitable alternative vacancies where they exist, then her dismissal for redundancy is automatically unfair.
If you are on maternity leave and have been put at risk of redundancy and your employer has not offered suitable alternative employment and suitable vacancies exist, contact either Ashley Hunt, Vaishali Thakerar or Carrie-Ann Randall now on 0116 212 1000 or complete one of the on-line forms.
