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Extension of redundancy protection for pregnant employees and those on family leave
Adrian Fryer
The law has, for a long time, given extra protection from redundancy to those on maternity, adoption, or shared parental leave. They have the right of first refusal of any suitable alternative roles which exist in a redundancy situation.
This protection is, from April 2024, being extended by the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023. The table below sets out the current position and how it is changing:
Where an employee suffers a miscarriage before 24 weeks of pregnancy then they will have protection during their pregnancy and for a 2-week period following miscarriage. If they miscarry after 24 weeks of pregnancy, then this is classed as a still birth and they are entitled to maternity leave and will have the same protection as any other employee taking maternity leave.
Policies will need to be updated to take account of this change and any personnel involved in redundancy consultation need to be informed of the new extended protection for these categories of employee.