Unlawful Dismissal - Maternity Leave - Part 3
Published 1 year, 6 months ago in My life.Today I called my solicitor to find out if there is any more ‘news’ about my case. He said that my ex employer is prepared to consider a payout figure if I put one to him, but that he will not make an offer to me. He is also still disputing the unlawful dismissal case and still says I was made redundant. Unless we settle beforehand, the matter is scheduled for conciliation with the Industrial Relations Commission next week.
So anyway, in an effort to come up with a figure, I needed to find out how much pro-rata long service leave I am entitled to. In order to be fair and correct, I needed to find out whether my maternity leave should be included in the ‘continuing service’ I provided to the company.
After an unhelpful online help session, and a telephone call directing me back to the previous organisation (”no, we can’t give you that information, call blahblahblah for that info), I literally sat and cried for half an hour. I am SO frustrated and angry at the amount of time and effort one has to put in to simply get a ‘fair go’.
Anyway…once I had settled down I did an online search for the phone number I was referred to, and as I had hoped, found a website for the organisation where I was able to obtain the information I needed.
YES. I am entitled to my pro-rata LSL at a rate of 1 week’s pay per 60 weeks continuous service as I have worked for more than 7 years with the same company.
YES. Maternity leave IS included as continuous service.
YES. There are penalties for not paying an employee their LSL entitlements upon termination.
I am was still unable to find any information about how to determine a fair and reasonable remuneration payout for lost wages, so I am hoping my solicitor can give me some guidance there.
I’ll let you all know what happens.
7 Responses to “Unlawful Dismissal - Maternity Leave - Part 3”
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I would have thought your solicitor would have got all this info
Pity you can’t take the solicitor to court for professional misconduct. I think did very well… smart kid 
Oops; I think you did very well.
double or even triple whatever figure you come to ‘cos the solicitor will probably take half & you should be compensated for your time & stress, plus you should probably always asks for more because they will no doubt try and beat your figure down. Good luck.
Good on you Pinkcow, As I said last time (when your ex-boss tried the oh you didnt work for him old trick) you have an excellent case if your statements to the nook are to go by, There is still a good case for UNLAWFUL dismissal which has punitive damages. I’d go to conciliation, try to inconvenience and tie up as much of your bosses time and money as possible.stick at it there is still a little justice in IR if you are persistent. I have done many conciliations in the past (but now work in a para legal workcover role).
Hello everyone, wanna be part of some kind of community, possible here? anyone here?
Pink cow, as an ex payroll officer I would suggest that as he is saying you are redundant, (Which I DO NOT believe) you should ask for at least 4 weeks pay for each year of service. That is normal in many redundancies.
If he did not discuss redundancy with you BEFORE you went on Mat Leave then he CANNOT make you redundant until you return. It is illegal for him to make you redundant without discussing the reasons with you, and those reasons are spelt out on the Australian Industrial Relations Commission website if you haven’t already accessed it. I believe he may be trying to use the Howard loophole of less than 100 employees, is this a factor?
grumpyoldman : yes, you are right. He was actually going the “less than 15 employees” route. I did initially ask for 8 weeks, but they knocked that back and we’ve settled on 5 weeks (plus my LSL). I am more than happy with that. As I mentioned before, I wasn’t fighting this for the money, I was fighting for justice ~ and that is what I’ve acheived.