Redundancy on Maternity Leave - How to ask?

Hello,

My wife is currently on maternity leave. Her company have announced a 90 day consultation process regarding redundancy. The redundancy involves reducing head count via placing all staff into a pool, and moving to a new office which will significantly increase the travel time each day.

The company have stated that they will not be offering any voluntary redundancies, and have also stated that people who do not wish to travel to the new office will be deemed to have resigned and therefore are not eligible for redundancy payment.

We know that the current law means that she is extremely well protected from redundancy because she is on maternity leave, however the increased travel time means it may not be practical for her to return to work.

Can anyone advise whether there is there any legal obligation for her company to consider a request by her for redundancy if she makes it?

What would be the best way of presenting the idea to her company so as not to remove any eligibility for redundancy payment?

Thanks.

Hi Steven

You need to check the contract - does it allow the employer to change the workplace for your wife? ie is there a mobility clause? If so, they may be within their rights to say that people who refuse to transfer are not redundant.

Whilst they have not asked for volunteers I wouldn't be surprised if they would welcome an unequivocal statement from your wife to say that she wishes to take redundancy. She is in a special situation which means that she is virtually assured of retaining her job (she has to be considered first for any alternative roles which will put her at the top of the pile). I suggest she use her special situation to open a dialogue with the company.

If the extra travel is going to have a detrimental impact on childcare, etc, it would certainly be worth dropping that into the conversation as there could be an arguement for indirect sex discrimination.

Regards

Pete