Employer & Maternity

Cocobongo

Hi guys, I hope you are all well.

Quick question for someone else who is not a member here and haven't got many people to ask around to get any advice

There's a girl who has worked for one employer for a couple of years and then left for her maternity leave. Whilst on maternity they have shut the place down (the employer had 3 cafes under the same name on a poster outside, but a different legal company opened on each, e.g. "xyz cafes ltd" , "cafe trinity street ltd" and etc.

The employer now got back to her acting like nothing happened, stating that they have changed her work location, therefore she will have to come back to a place that is really unsuitable for her to travel to. (She had a direct bus that takes her about an hour, whereas now she would have to take 3 different buses and it would take her around 40-60mins extra depending whether it's a peak time or not)

She was also on hourly pay and they'd normally just transfer some holiday pay amount over on a monthly basis & the bank holiday pay would also be paid as an extra, but she didn't get any of those at all whilst on maternity. I have a work colleague who was told by our companies HR manager that she would be accruing holidays as normal whilst on maternity and we will have to pay her those, is this the same case?

Sorry if this is all confusing, but there are three main questions:

*Do they owe her the bank holidays missed? (the business is always open on the bank holidays, therefore no matter what, all of the employees working would get a payment added to their weekly payslips)

*Was she officially supposed to be accruing holidays so she can use those now to extend the maternity leave?

*Is she even still officially employed if they want to relocate her to an unsuitable place with a completely different legal business name?

This is all just a case of her constantly being treated badly at work, she would probably be willing to find a new job now anyway, but wanted to see if they actually have been fair with her and they don't owe her anything, e.g. holidays, bank holidays or redundancy(or whatever it would be called if the business has closed).

Thanks in advance and sorry for such a long story, just tried to be a clear as possible

Mr. Cocobongo :rolleyes:

helpfulpartner

Hi There

Citizens advise have a section on Maternity Leave which might help a little.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/leave_and_holidays/maternity_leave.html

From reading it there's probably a few things.

1 you are entitled to your holidays. In particular public holidays.

2. Changing location this is something you need to look at in your contract of emplyement...original contract as they may have a travel clause in there. I'd be surprised if there wasn't one given the company has a few locations.

Citizens advise have a drop in centre in the city centre as far as I know. Legal advise can be quite expensive so I'd drop into them and have a chat and see what they say.

Victor

Cocobongo wrote: »

Whilst on maternity they have shut the place down

Is there a Transfer of Undertakings situation http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/employment_rights_and_conditions/contracts_of_employment/transfer_of_business.html or a redundancy situation?