CALLING ALL
READERS
We want to hear your employment
law issues. Send us your dilemmas to
feature here next month.
Email: chris.beck@markallengroup.com
levels of health and safety
within the organisation, and
stop history repeating itself.
However, if you’ve suffered
significant financial losses as a
result of your illness, you may
want to consider bringing a
claim against your employer for
personal injury (PI), in which
case you should seek specialist
advice. In order to successfully
claim that your employer has
been negligent, proof will
once again be essential, so you
should collaborate with your
colleagues to consider the
medical and other evidence
available at an early stage.
If you received full pay while
off sick and therefore didn’t
suffer any direct financial loss,
you should carefully weigh up
whether a PI claim is worth
pursuing and seek further legal
advice to help you make an
informed decision.
I have worked at my current
job for just over a year. A
couple of weeks ago, I went
into labour at under 24 weeks.
Although my baby was born
alive, she unfortunately passed
away a few hours later. I spoke
with my manager and was
told that I would be entitled
to maternity leave (and pay).
However, I recently received
a call from HR stating that I
won’t be getting maternity
pay and to ‘visit the job centre
and see how they can help’. Is
it true that I’m not entitled
to maternity pay? Has my
employer acted wrongly?
Firstly, I’m extremely sorry for
your loss. The mixed messages
you’ve been receiving from your
company and the confusion
around your legal position must
be adding additional stress at an
already difficult and emotionally
turbulent time. In this case,
your manager was correct in
their initial advice that you’re
entitled to take advantage of
your full maternity entitlement,
and you should flag this to your
employer as soon as possible.
Under the Maternity and
Parental Leave etc Regulations
1999, in the event that a baby is
born alive but subsequently dies,
its mother is entitled to take up
to 52 weeks of Maternity Leave,
and up to 39 weeks of Statutory
Maternity Pay, assuming that
she meets the necessary criteria
for the latter. These rules also
apply where a baby is stillborn
after 24 weeks of pregnancy,
and entitle fathers to claim both
Paternity Leave and pay – so you
may want to communicate this
to the child’s father.
If your baby had been
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
stillborn before 24 weeks of
pregnancy had passed, you
would have been entitled to take
sick leave, which your employer
would have to treat in the same
manner as pregnancy-related
sickness. This means it should
be absent from your sickness
record, and therefore not count
against you when reviewed by
future employers.
Under the Parental
Bereavement (Pay & Leave)
Act, due to be introduced in
April 2020, parents and primary
carers suffering the loss of a
child under the age of 18, or
a stillbirth after 24 weeks of
pregnancy, will be entitled to at
least two weeks’ paid parental
bereavement leave. While
not relevant in your case, the
introduction of this legislation
is certainly a positive step which
will help those suffering from
the loss of a child to grieve and
recover in their own way.
Know your law...
The Transfer of
Undertakings
(Protection of
Employment) Regulations 1981
(TUPE) preserve employees’ terms
and conditions when a business
or undertaking, or part of one, is
transferred to a new employer
+353 47 80500
www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk 13 aisle-master.com
/www.manufacturingmanagement.co.uk
/aisle-master.com
link