The
employer had agreed to keep her job open during her maternity leave but after
rearranging workloads it decided it could do without her and save money.
The
employee was advised her position was redundant and was not given an
opportunity to have input into the process.
She was told that the decision was to save money but was given no
information to back up that claim and was not offered the opportunity for
redeployment.
The ERA
held that the employer had failed to act reasonably and awarded over $19,000
lost wages and $15,000 compensation. It also imposed a $2,000 penalty for
breaches of the parental leave legislation.
Employees
on parental leave are especially vulnerable to restructuring because they are
absent from the office, and so a higher threshold of protection applies before
they can be made redundant.
Alan
Knowsley
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