Employee SSP and then Maternity leave

[rem-dog]

Hi all




My MIL owns a coffee shop/bakery in England, she previously was the manager but bought it from the old owner in February this year. She has an employee who has been off sick since the end of June with back pain - before she was signed off, she announced she is pregnant. Her back pain was an issue before she got pregnant, so I don’t think it’s classed as a pregnancy related illness. My MIL tried to implement several things to help her at work such as no washing up and lifting heavy things, and shorter shifts. This already wasn’t ideal as she cannot do 90% of the things required for the job (all she can do is take orders and make coffee) but she understood adjustments should be made so put these in place. She then went off sick and has been ever since.




This employee has her own business doing nails where she is hunched over all day and is still doing this very often, as well as just generally being out and about and doing things all the time - my MIL is really struggling to afford her SSP as the business had a lot of problems she wasn’t told about when she took it over, so it’s quite upsetting to see her doing all these normal things but getting doctors notes saying she’s unable to simply stand (or sit!) behind the bar and take orders.




She is currently getting SSP and is due to go on maternity leave in late November - from my understanding, she is allowed to go on maternity leave and then straight back onto SSP after which we are certain she will do if she can - is this correct?




Is there any way she can be let go after her mat leave ends or would that be pregnancy discrimination? She was close friends with my wife for a number of years, her parents and fiancé are VERY well off and we know she doesn’t need the money as she is fully supported at home. Obviously she will get whatever she is entitled to but she has already accrued a load of holiday as she’s been off on SSP which she’ll be claiming, and then the added SSP when she is back which the business could really do with not paying for. If it’s relevant, she has been employed by the business for 2+ years but my MIL took it over in Feb and changed the company registered name on the gov site so I believe technically everyone has only been employed since February. I really hate to sound like someone who is trying to scam someone out of what they are entitled to but my MIL is working 60+ hours a week to try and fix this business and she is here taking nearly £500 a month which we are fully aware she doesn’t need a penny of.




Thanks in advance

[ULA]

Couple of points of employment law to deal with first.

Even though your MIL bought the business in Feb no the employee has not been employed since this date as, under TUPE legislation, they will have continous service from their original start date with the previous owner.

On return from mat leave the employee cannot be treated less favorable or dismissed because of her pregnancy or mat leave.

In terms of the current period of absence, if the employee is off sick for the last 4 weeks of her pregnancy your MIL can move her to SMP and take her off SSP.

When she does return from mat leave and if she is still off sick then your MIL can follow a fair process to dismiss based on capability. In particular when doing so she must not take into account:

1. Absences due to pregnancy (including pregnancy related illness) and absence due to maternity leave.
2. Treat her less favourably than a man who is absent from work for the same length of time due to sickness.

If she decides to consider a dismissal your MIL should consider having an occupational health report done.