Redundancy during maternity leave: Reg 10 breach not always discrimination (News, 20 November 2014)

Table of contents

• The impact of this case
• Relevant background law
• The facts and employment tribunal judgment
• The EAT judgment

Article summary

If a woman's job is made redundant during the period of her maternity leave then her employer must, pursuant to regulation 10 of the Maternity and Parental Leave Regulations 1999, offer her any suitable alternative vacancy that exists. She does not have to engage in a selection process. The employer’s obligation arises as soon as the role is identified as redundant. The employer does not have to offer every suitable alternative vacancy or, indeed, any particular vacancy if more than one might be suitable. Where there is a breach of regulation 10, that does not automatically mean the employee has been subjected to direct discrimination because of pregnancy and maternity; the tribunal must ask, in the same way as in other discrimination claims, what was the reason why the employee was subjected to that treatment. EAT: Sefton Borough Council v Wainwright.