Maternity leave finishing

malu2012

Hi all,

Sorry first time post so ill try explain as best as I can...

I have a question about my partners work she finished her maternity leave end of January and decided to take an additional 16weeks unpaid as to look for childcare options at the moment we are finding prices of about 750-800 per month which has no sense at all as she only works 25hours per week (reduced shorttime) for the distant future for sure as things quite enough in her work she would have a income from this of about 850per month which leaves it very tight after childcare and still excluding travel costs to creche and to work.

We looked at all options and the best thing we see would be if her employer let her go so she could then claim job seekers benifit while looking for full time work or evening/ night shift work so even that way I could care for child at this time. But her employer would not agree to this as she has been there over 2 years and they would have to be seen to give her a redundant some (even though she does not want this, just that they let her go) plus some other problems they might face or leave themself open to.

I myself am working but just slightly over min wage and not enough to support herself and child its extremely stressfull and need some advice on what options we have.

My question is, If she resigns from her job and intends looking for Full time/ evening-night shift work would she be entitled to make a claim for Job Seekers Benifit at this time or would it be frowned upon because she has left herself?


Any advice would be great thanks!!

mp22

1) If you leave a job without good reason you can be disqualified from JSB for up to 9 weeks.
You must have suffered a substantial loss of employment in any period of six consecutive days to be eligible for Jobseeker's Benefit. This means that you must have lost at least one day's employment and as a result of this loss be unemployed for at least 3 days out of 6 days. Your earnings must also have been reduced because of the loss of employment. You may be disqualified from getting Jobseeker's Benefit for 9 weeks if you:

• Left work voluntarily and without a reasonable cause

2)If you are at home looking after junior you are quiet likely not to be available for work,the dept might want to see what childcare you have in place.

3)If you place undue restrictions on type,hours of work you may be disqualified from a job seekers payment
You can be regarded as not being available for work and not entitled to Jobseeker's Benefit, if you put unreasonable restrictions on the following:

• The nature of the employment
• The hours of work
• Rate of pay
• The duration of the employment
• The location of the employment

In any case where a Deciding Officer is of the opinion that you have placed unreasonable restrictions, you will be interviewed and given the opportunity to respond.


All the above from here http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/unemployed_people/jobseekers_benefit.html

malu2012

Well she was reduced from full week of 39hours 5days down to actually 24hours 3days per week a few months before Maternity began which resulted in loss of 500euro per month or bit more and when she returns to work will still only be available 24hours 3days a week. Would this be a reason?

Also if it was decided against her is there a way to get SWA? Or something like that?

wmpdd3

no that reason wouldnt be enough.

for jsb, she would have to say she was available for any position.

if she was refused, she would get no payment at all, as she would have your wages.

malu2012

Ah i see.. what would be acceptable to them?

eastbono

malu2012 wrote: »

Well she was reduced from full week of 39hours 5days down to actually 24hours 3days per week a few months before Maternity began which resulted in loss of 500euro per month or bit more and when she returns to work will still only be available 24hours 3days a week. Would this be a reason?

Also if it was decided against her is there a way to get SWA? Or something like that?

If she was reduced from a 5 day a week to a 3 day a week by her employer did she not apply for jobseekers benefit casual? If her days will still be the same when she returns to work this is not a good enough reason to terminate her employement. Unfortunately due to the fact that her work pattern was a 3 day week for a few months before she went on her maternity leave this will now be considered her work pattern and she will not meet the criteria for jsb casual. She could apply for jobseekers allowance casual which is means tested so any earnings she will have from employment and your earnings from employment will be assessed.

malu2012

She did have some claim for the last couple of weeks before maternity think it was health and safety leave then before that JSA she was getting 75.20 per week or something along those lines for the 2days she was missing. It just seems hard to swallow that going back to work will nearly cost us money. What reasons are likely to be accepted for leaving?

There is another reason why she is anxious to leave regarding the nature of the work, 99% of her day she spends working with and cutting/spraying glass fibre sheets/rolls which is quite irritating and sometimes harmful for skin that she will often have allergies or rashes from this also returning from work this fibre will be in hair clothes and everywhere basically. There is a worry about this fibres transferring onto baby as its quite difficult to fully clear this from hair skin etc...

Hope I am explaining this all well.

mp22

malu2012 wrote: »

There is another reason why she is anxious to leave regarding the nature of the work, 99% of her day she spends working with and cutting/spraying glass fibre sheets/rolls which is quite irritating and sometimes harmful for skin that she will often have allergies or rashes from this also returning from work this fibre will be in hair clothes and everywhere basically. There is a worry about this fibres transferring onto baby as its quite difficult to fully clear this from hair skin etc...

.

You should take this matter up with your employer.If herself wishes to stay at home and look after junior you should look into FIS http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/social_welfare_payments_to_families_and_children/family_income_supplement.html

malu2012

what if she left due to the stress from this job? she has had some problems with stress/depression work related and even going back brings her down. could she claim and look for a new job? what would be the best way to go about this??

mp22

malu2012 wrote: »

what if she left due to the stress from this job? she has had some problems with stress/depression work related and even going back brings her down. could she claim and look for a new job? what would be the best way to go about this??

See her GP.
Thread closed