Redundancy and Maternity Pay
Discussion
Mrs came home in a bit of a state last night.
Basics-
She works for a company that manage after-school clubs locally. This job is one of 2 part-time jobs she holds down.
The working hours (quite obviously) are 3-6pm 5 days a week, minimum wage
The contract is a 6-month rolling, with review after each 6-month block. She started in September last year.
She fell pregnant (we were trying...) and wasn't sure if the dates would entitle her to SMP or not, so sent a polite letter to her employer at around the 20 week mark (as she had also received her MATB1 certificate from the midwife by this point).
Her employer duly replied and even stated the cash entitlement to maternity pay that she would be entitled to - great, happy days so far.
Fast-forward to yesterday and she is told that her job could be at risk, as that particular club is struggling to be financially viable to continue.
Cue lots of tears and worry that she now won't have any money during her maternity leave, which is due to start in 15 weeks.
There's lots of information on this online, but it's all about weeks and specific dates and timing - I'm a bit baffled. I'm not asking PH to work this out for me - I need to do some reading up myself - what I am asking PH is whether the letter she received holds any water?
It specifically states the dates which she will be entitled to SMP and the value (even though they are improperly calculated).
Her 6-month rolling contract was not automatically renewed - the contract actually states that it will "automatically terminate on 01/03/2015". Yet she heard nothing from management and continued working this week (and will be working today).
The whole thing is a mess and she has had angry parents to contend with on the phone and in person as they are concerned as to where they can send their kids at the end of term! Total mis-communication, the whole thing is managed incredibly badly - I've never seen anything like it. Suffice to say, the entire company seems to be constructed of middle-aged women. I'm not going to apologise for being sexist, because I think that's a big part of the problem here!
We won't be in poverty if the job ends in redundancy, we just won't have any rainy-day money and the time which she is out of work on leave will be more difficult.
I need to help her script a letter I think, but I need to know what use (if any) that letter about the maternity pay is.
Sorry for the life-story!!!
Basics-
She works for a company that manage after-school clubs locally. This job is one of 2 part-time jobs she holds down.
The working hours (quite obviously) are 3-6pm 5 days a week, minimum wage
The contract is a 6-month rolling, with review after each 6-month block. She started in September last year.
She fell pregnant (we were trying...) and wasn't sure if the dates would entitle her to SMP or not, so sent a polite letter to her employer at around the 20 week mark (as she had also received her MATB1 certificate from the midwife by this point).
Her employer duly replied and even stated the cash entitlement to maternity pay that she would be entitled to - great, happy days so far.
Fast-forward to yesterday and she is told that her job could be at risk, as that particular club is struggling to be financially viable to continue.
Cue lots of tears and worry that she now won't have any money during her maternity leave, which is due to start in 15 weeks.
There's lots of information on this online, but it's all about weeks and specific dates and timing - I'm a bit baffled. I'm not asking PH to work this out for me - I need to do some reading up myself - what I am asking PH is whether the letter she received holds any water?
It specifically states the dates which she will be entitled to SMP and the value (even though they are improperly calculated).
Her 6-month rolling contract was not automatically renewed - the contract actually states that it will "automatically terminate on 01/03/2015". Yet she heard nothing from management and continued working this week (and will be working today).
The whole thing is a mess and she has had angry parents to contend with on the phone and in person as they are concerned as to where they can send their kids at the end of term! Total mis-communication, the whole thing is managed incredibly badly - I've never seen anything like it. Suffice to say, the entire company seems to be constructed of middle-aged women. I'm not going to apologise for being sexist, because I think that's a big part of the problem here!
We won't be in poverty if the job ends in redundancy, we just won't have any rainy-day money and the time which she is out of work on leave will be more difficult.
I need to help her script a letter I think, but I need to know what use (if any) that letter about the maternity pay is.
Sorry for the life-story!!!
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