A leading law firm says recession stricken agricultural firms can make women on maternity leave redundant but must follow the law carefully.

Mace & Jones employment law associate Victoria Othen said making women on maternity leave redundant may be necessary for many employers if their business is to survive the current economic conditions.

“Even if redundancies are inevitable, it is crucial to manage the process properly. That is doubly the case for any redundancy, however legitimate, if the woman is off on maternity leave. Hasty or ill-considered decisions could lead to expensive compensation pay outs and a huge amount of lost management hours,” said Othen.

Ms Othen said there is nothing in law which precludes making an employee on maternity leave redundant.

“The danger for bosses is that it is automatically unfair to dismiss or to select an employee for redundancy for a reason related to pregnancy or maternity,” she said. “Selection criteria can relate to maternity more easily than one might imagine; for example, a poor attendance record or performance during the initial stages of pregnancy may have to be disregarded.”

Businesses may also need to take into consideration the fact that an employee could also bring a case under the Sex Discrimination Act which carries compensation for injury to feelings and any resulting psychiatric injury.

“Automatic unfair dismissal in these circumstances does not require a period of minimum service. Nor does it involve scrutiny of whether an employer behaved reasonably. If an employee can demonstrate that redundancy selection criteria were applied, even unintentionally, in a manner which gave her comparators a discriminatory advantage, this will give rise to a claim.

“Indeed, in some circumstances, there is a duty to positively discriminate by giving an employee on maternity leave an offer of alternative employment in preference to any other redundancy candidates.”

The British Chambers of Commerce predicted this month that unemployment will surge from its present level of 2 m to 3.2m by the second half of 2010.

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