Constructive dismassal due to pregnancy??? Please help!

[TroubledSoul]

Centurion07 said:

Not doubting anything you've said OP but I find it unbelievable that a company think they're possibly going to get away with treating your missus like this. I mean surely anyone with half a brain can see that stopping her colleague attending the meeting is not going to look very good when it all hits the fan, never mind the outright lies. How stupid can a company, and the individuals orchestrating all this, be? The mind boggles.

I would not be surprised to find out that they thought her being on a probationary period protected them and absolved them of any accountability.

Hopefully they will soon find out just how wrong this approach is.

I wish you the best of luck with this OP. I had a very bad time with a former employer and ended up biting the bullet and getting out as my health was being affected.

There's not much worse than not wanting to go to bed at night because it brings tomorrow around sooner and not wanting to get up and have to go into work the next morning because you're so beaten down and fed up.....

[SickFish]

TroubledSoul said:

Centurion07 said:

Not doubting anything you've said OP but I find it unbelievable that a company think they're possibly going to get away with treating your missus like this. I mean surely anyone with half a brain can see that stopping her colleague attending the meeting is not going to look very good when it all hits the fan, never mind the outright lies. How stupid can a company, and the individuals orchestrating all this, be? The mind boggles.

I would not be surprised to find out that they thought her being on a probationary period protected them and absolved them of any accountability.

Hopefully they will soon find out just how wrong this approach is.

I wish you the best of luck with this OP. I had a very bad time with a former employer and ended up biting the bullet and getting out as my health was being affected.

There's not much worse than not wanting to go to bed at night because it brings tomorrow around sooner and not wanting to get up and have to go into work the next morning because you're so beaten down and fed up.....

These are my thoughts also.... Even more so now they have extended her probationary period by 2 weeks....

[Zeeky]

SickFish said:

...
We are going to discuss tonight but I think she will be tendering her notice and approach ACAS for early conciliation (side note - am I right in thinking there is no cost in this?)

There is no cost and success depends on the employer cooperating. Also note that the role of ACAS is to get the potential claim settled, not to get you the best settlement. You can use legal representation in the process. In all events speak to your lawyer before handing in the notice.

[SickFish]

Zeeky said:

SickFish said:

...
We are going to discuss tonight but I think she will be tendering her notice and approach ACAS for early conciliation (side note - am I right in thinking there is no cost in this?)

There is no cost and success depends on the employer cooperating. Also note that the role of ACAS is to get the potential claim settled, not to get you the best settlement. You can use legal representation in the process. In all events speak to your lawyer before handing in the notice.

agreed, spoke to our legal rep last night and we are sitting on it over the weekend to mull over

[Four Litre]

scdan4 said:

It sucks. It sounds really horrible and stressful. They are "bang out of line".

But are you sure you want to win this one? . She's already had indications from the GP that this is effecting her badly.

There will be other jobs. You both have far more important things happening right now.


I'd be inclined to get signed off with a view of never going back. Fight the good fight via letter for a bit afterwards.

They are wrong, but... Is this a case of "don't let that idiot become part of the rest of your life?"

Is it worth it?

Its clear whatever happens that place isnt for her. They seem like a bunch of anchors.

Why not loose this battle and win the war. Surely the stress is getting to her and this has brought about long term sickness from stress...Friend had a simlar thing and ended up 11 months off on full pay and then a golden handshake.....

[SickFish]

Four Litre said:

scdan4 said:

It sucks. It sounds really horrible and stressful. They are "bang out of line".

But are you sure you want to win this one? . She's already had indications from the GP that this is effecting her badly.

There will be other jobs. You both have far more important things happening right now.


I'd be inclined to get signed off with a view of never going back. Fight the good fight via letter for a bit afterwards.

They are wrong, but... Is this a case of "don't let that idiot become part of the rest of your life?"

Is it worth it?

Its clear whatever happens that place isnt for her. They seem like a bunch of anchors.

Why not loose this battle and win the war. Surely the stress is getting to her and this has brought about long term sickness from stress...Friend had a simlar thing and ended up 11 months off on full pay and then a golden handshake.....

She wont get full pay, she would get SSP, we have decided we will revisit it over the weekend and come up with a POA, whether that is she hands in her notice and walks away or we go the legal route.

[V8 Fettler]

SickFish said:

aka_kerrly said:

Just to throw another viewpoint out there, is the firm that the OP's partner works for particularly large or small.

For small businesses the costs of a new staff member plus training then having to fund maternity leave shortly after whilst also hiring another member of staff to cover for maternity leave and having to train/pay them is bloody expensive! If you consider that you can understand why a employer would be a bit pissed off by a new staff member springing "im pregnant " on them within a few weeks of starting.

I don't have the numbers to hand but it may well be cheaper to get sued for unfair dismissal than having to pay for two staff over 12 months plus having to deal with a situation where the original staff member wants to come back but only on part time!!

No, large national company involved in insurance.

To be perfectly honest, we didn't know she was pregnant when she started, we were told we couldn't have kids.....

Is this sorry saga being run from the UK head office? Or is it a local manager running away with his local power? The larger insurers generally have hidebound established procedures, which should be beneficial in this case if localism has over-reached itself.

[SickFish]

V8 Fettler said:

SickFish said:

aka_kerrly said:

Just to throw another viewpoint out there, is the firm that the OP's partner works for particularly large or small.

For small businesses the costs of a new staff member plus training then having to fund maternity leave shortly after whilst also hiring another member of staff to cover for maternity leave and having to train/pay them is bloody expensive! If you consider that you can understand why a employer would be a bit pissed off by a new staff member springing "im pregnant " on them within a few weeks of starting.

I don't have the numbers to hand but it may well be cheaper to get sued for unfair dismissal than having to pay for two staff over 12 months plus having to deal with a situation where the original staff member wants to come back but only on part time!!

No, large national company involved in insurance.

To be perfectly honest, we didn't know she was pregnant when she started, we were told we couldn't have kids.....

Is this sorry saga being run from the UK head office? Or is it a local manager running away with his local power? The larger insurers generally have hidebound established procedures, which should be beneficial in this case if localism has over-reached itself.

No, it is being ran from UK HQ. Her local branch manager is an impotent coward with zero managerial skills....

[PurpleMoonlight]

Just to check, is your basis of any claim is that she has been discriminated against due to pregnancy rather then her work is not to the standards the employer requires?

[SickFish]

PurpleMoonlight said:

Just to check, is your basis of any claim is that she has been discriminated against due to pregnancy rather then her work is not to the standards the employer requires?

Yes.

When she first started her work heaped praise on her. Come the announcement of her pregnancy all attitudes change....

The basis of our 'claim' (if we even decide that is the route we want to pursue) would be that the (false) 'evidence of poor performance' that is being relied on by her employer is really a pretext for sex discrimination

[Red Devil]

SickFish said:

No, it is being ran from UK HQ. Her local branch manager is an impotent coward with zero managerial skills....

Either the bods at HQ are supremely confident of their position and that their gambit is sound, or they are a bunch of incompetent and unprofessional muppets. I can't work out which.

That said maybe they are putting far too much faith in her manager and are going to come unstuck big time. Hope you can get a positive outcome from all this and your o/h can get on with her life.

[PurpleMoonlight]

Red Devil said:

Either the bods at HQ are supremely confident of their position and that their gambit is sound, or they are a bunch of incompetent and unprofessional muppets. I can't work out which.

That said maybe they are putting far too much faith in her manager and are going to come unstuck big time. Hope you can get a positive outcome from all this and your o/h can get on with her life.

I can't help thinking they were intending on terminating her employment within 12 months as they can do without reason, but her pregnancy has thrown a spanner in that plan and now they need to have justification on file in case she claims discrimination.

[Jasandjules]

Red Devil said:

Either the bods at HQ are supremely confident of their position and that their gambit is sound, or they are a bunch of incompetent and unprofessional muppets. I can't work out which.

I can assure you I've gone up against multi national billion pound firms, councils, Universities and Big Four firms, who each exhibit conduct which you would suggest would be thought of as "somewhat useless" if it was from your local 2 man band.....