Redundancy Severence Payment

Guys, hope somebody can help? Work with a UK based large company and have 5 years service.

Two things bothering me- on maternity leave from Feb 09 to Feb 10, advised by line manager in July 2009 that my role was at risk and my role would be elimintaed as part of global restructuring. Advised no alternative job would be offered as I was not formally advised of my job at risk ( by letter ) and my redundancy notice would only be served when I decided to return from maternity leave. Does this seem correct?

Secondly, when contemplating in August 09 whether to return to work full time or change to parttime to serve out my remaining few months, I specifically asked my line manager and group HR whether a period of part-time working would affect my enhanced redundancy payment. Was advised in writing by both that a short period of working part time on my return from maternity leave would have no significant effect on my severence figure. Lo and behold my severence estimate has just arrived calculated on my current part time salary and by my calculation is £10k+ less than I would have got if I returned full time- a significant difference!
I have advised my employer of this situation but there response is somewhat obstinate, any advice on how I take this forward?

Many thanks for any advice offered.

Thanks

Amelia

The important question is at what point your role was eliminated. If it was a restructuring, when did the new structure take effect? If you are back serving your notice what job are you in, has your job been eliminated yet or not?

You should have been consulted and informed exactly as if you were not on maternity leave, and failure to do so may well be discrimination.

If your role was made redundant while you were on maternity leave, then as a woman on maternity leave, if there was a suitable alternative role available, you should have been offered it. 'Suitable' would mean same terms and conditions, so not part time if you weren't doing that before.

In terms of redundancy pay, well, either your redundancy pay was calculated on your full time pay or on your part time pay. 'Significant' is a subjective thing really. What you should have asked for is written confirmation that in the event of your redundancy, redundancy pay would be calculated on your previous full time pay. As you didn't get that, there is no reason for them to calculate redundancy pay on a previous salary, your current salary would be the right one to use.

You could kick up a fuss a bit, but as redundancy would either be calculated on one salary or the other, you need to be clear about what you thought would happen, which salary you thought your redundancy would be calculated on. It doesn't really sound as though anyone gave any indication that your full time salary would be used.

Thanks for the advice.

With regards the "at risk"aspect my employer and myself disagree when this actually took place. They say when I returned from maternity leave I was given 3 months notice that I was at risk before notice to terminate served with 3 further months notice. I say my role was eliminated in summer 2009 as I was no longer part of the new organisational structure or organigram published at that time and was asked to apply for a new role in the managed open resourcing.

With regards, the severence payment, I specifically asked for the financial difference between returning to work the notice full time for 6 months or part time for 6 months. Was advised that returning parttime would have no significant impact as this would only have been for a short-time. Unfortunately by following this advice my severence is more than 40% less than if I had returned full time as I was happy to do so until I received HR advice on the matter. I should have been clearly advised in response to my question that in line with company policy severence is calculated on your salary at time the notice to terminate is served.

I cant beleive that there is no legal basis for challenging this decision that has led to me suffering severe financial detriment by following the advice of my line manager and company HR advisor.