Tier 2 Redundancy while on maternity

[geogdavid]

Hi there

I am due for delivering a baby mid October 2015.

My current leave on Tier 2 General expires in May 2016. I expect my last date of employment to be 30 Oct 2015.

I heard from a few friends that if there is 6 or less months left in my visa, UKBA would decide NOT to curtail my leave. Is this true?

I am not in a position to travel now or in the near future. Neither am I in a position to search for jobs now.
I am stressed out because of this. Please advise.

Regards

[moonlight55]

The T2 guidance says that UKVI "will" curtail your leave if you cease to be employed by your sponsor. They "may" not curtail your leave if you have less than 60 days leave remaining (and not 6 months).

The keywords are "will" and "may".

Please note that sponsor will have to report your last date to UKVI within 10 days of you leaving. UKVI normally takes some time to send out the curtailment letter, sometime up to a month. The 60 days will start from the date the letter was generated and not from your last working date. I'm guessing you may get around 3 months after your last date.

I would suggest you consult a solicitor on possible options. Btw, why are you not taking maternity leave and resigning from the company? There may be a personal reason and you may opt not to answer, but this will mean that you can stay at least until your current leave expires since you will continue to be on the payroll of the company.

[iworker]

if your EDD is mid oct then how is your last date at work 30 Oct?
By law you are allowed to take leave now. You should take leave and the employer will have to extend your contract till your maternity leave ends.

[geogdavid]

The T2 guidance says that UKVI "will" curtail your leave if you cease to be employed by your sponsor. They "may" not curtail your leave if you have less than 60 days leave remaining (and not 6 months).

The keywords are "will" and "may".

Please note that sponsor will have to report your last date to UKVI within 10 days of you leaving. UKVI normally takes some time to send out the curtailment letter, sometime up to a month. The 60 days will start from the date the letter was generated and not from your last working date. I'm guessing you may get around 3 months after your last date.

I would suggest you consult a solicitor on possible options. Btw, why are you not taking maternity leave and resigning from the company? There may be a personal reason and you may opt not to answer, but this will mean that you can stay at least until your current leave expires since you will continue to be on the payroll of the company.

Thank you moonlight. Do you mean if I resign now, because the employer is entitled to pay SMP, I would be on the payroll for next 39 weeks? Which possibly would then give me enough time to search for a new job. However that means that I miss the voluntary redundancy package as well.

[geogdavid]

if your EDD is mid oct then how is your last date at work 30 Oct?
By law you are allowed to take leave now. You should take leave and the employer will have to extend your contract till your maternity leave ends.

Hi iworker

I will be off for maternity leave in a couple of days (for 39 weeks). However the redundancy is still in a proposal stage and will not take effect until 30-Oct, so that effectively will become my last day in employment. Did not mean to say I am going to work till 30 Oct.

I don't understand when you mean the employer will have to extend my contract till your maternity leave ends. Is this on employment law or immigration law? They are also making redundant at-least another person who is already on maternity leave who is a UK national.

[moonlight55]

I meant if you "do not" resign now and take maternity time off, then you will continue to be on your employer's payroll.

Btw, you did not mention in your original post that your's is a redundancy case. Looks like you are resigning to get the redundancy package. If you go ahead with this, then your leave most likely will be curtailed.

[iworker]

you should check acas guidance on 'redundancy during pregnancy'.
I can have some more information on this on monday when my colleague comes in.

[geogdavid]

you should check acas guidance on 'redundancy during pregnancy'.
I can have some more information on this on monday when my colleague comes in.

Thanks much iworker. Looking forward to your response.

[geogdavid]

you should check acas guidance on 'redundancy during pregnancy'.
I can have some more information on this on monday when my colleague comes in.

Thanks much iworker. Looking forward to your response.

Hi iworker, please let me know if you have an update.

[iworker]

The law says that you should not be made redundant because of pregnancy. But as you have said that they are making loads of people redundant, you cant do too much about it.
If you take maternity before your redundancy start date, then u should be eligible for maternity pay. Maternity pay will comprise of SMP which is paid by your employer but HMRC is funding it, and OMP is paid by company. Like you said, it will be a short time after taking your maternity that you are going to be made redundant, u can claim the SMP from hmrc if you have worked for 6 months (check again), but might loose on OMP.
I think you should enter into negotiation with your employer that they should offer you redundancy settlement, which might include more than just redundancy pay. Your strong points are that you are loosing out on maternity pay, you have right to be allocated some other job before they interview someone else for any other role that you can do, etc. You can also ask them to extend the date when they inform hmrc about your circumstances (not sure how u can convince them on this).
hope this helps.

[geogdavid]

The law says that you should not be made redundant because of pregnancy. But as you have said that they are making loads of people redundant, you cant do too much about it.
If you take maternity before your redundancy start date, then u should be eligible for maternity pay. Maternity pay will comprise of SMP which is paid by your employer but HMRC is funding it, and OMP is paid by company. Like you said, it will be a short time after taking your maternity that you are going to be made redundant, u can claim the SMP from hmrc if you have worked for 6 months (check again), but might loose on OMP.
I think you should enter into negotiation with your employer that they should offer you redundancy settlement, which might include more than just redundancy pay. Your strong points are that you are loosing out on maternity pay, you have right to be allocated some other job before they interview someone else for any other role that you can do, etc. You can also ask them to extend the date when they inform hmrc about your circumstances (not sure how u can convince them on this).
hope this helps.

Thank you very much iworker. I will try asking the employer to consider me for jobs across the company. I dont know how they would consider the suitability. There is a role senior to what I do. I have 4 years of experience in this company, not sure if i can ask them to consider that I am suitable to a senior role.