# Pregnant and on JSB?



## homeowner (12 Dec 2011)

My sister is a few months pregnant and has learned that her company is going to make some of the staff at her work redundant in early January. No one in her work knows she is pregnant yet. She isnt showing. 

Will she automatically get JSB for 12 months without being means tested?
There will come a point where she is heavily pregnant and wont be able to take a job.

Will she continue to get JSB after the baby arrives. Would her JSB be paid as maternity payment from state? or does she loose her JSB after the baby? and get no maternity payment either?


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## Ildánach (12 Dec 2011)

If she takes maternity leave (she can take this up to 16 weeks prior to her due date), she cannot be made redundant until she returns from her Maternity Leave.  

She will then be eligible for Maternity Benefit for the duration of her regular Maternity Leave, will  have increased her amount of service that her redundancy is based on by six months or so, and provided she is available for full-time work, will be able to claim Jobseekers Benefit for a full year after she is made redundant.  If her income is below the FIS threshold, she can also apply for FIS for the period while she's on Maternity Leave.  See here for more details on FIS http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Schemes/BirthChildrenAndFamilies/ChildRelatedPayments/Pages/fis.aspx 

If she can't take her Maternity Leave before she is made redundant, then she will get her redundancy payment when she is made redundant (or alternatively may have to apply to the Social Insurance Fund for it if her employer is not in a position to pay)

She will NOT be entitled to Maternity Benefit (as her employment will have already terminated) and will apply for Jobseekers Benefit, which will last 12 months.  She will have to show that she is available for and looking for full-time work, although she won't have to sign on for the last 4 weeks of the pregnancy or the first 12 weeks after the baby is born.

It is obviously much better for her if she can take her Maternity Leave prior to the announcement of any redundancies!


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## homeowner (12 Dec 2011)

Ildánach said:


> She will NOT be entitled to Maternity Benefit (as her employment will have already terminated) and will apply for Jobseekers Benefit, which will last 12 months. She will have to show that she is available for and looking for full-time work, although she won't have to sign on for the last 4 weeks of the pregnancy or the first 12 weeks after the baby is born.


Does that mean that she loses 16 weeks JSB? 

She is just 12 weeks pregnant at the moment so no chance of taking maternity leave before redundancies.


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## Ildánach (12 Dec 2011)

homeowner said:


> Does that mean that she loses 16 weeks JSB?
> 
> She is just 12 weeks pregnant at the moment so no chance of taking maternity leave before redundancies.



She will get paid the Jobseekers Benefit for the weeks that she doesn't sign, its just that she is excused from signing.   She must let her social welfare office know her due date, and they'll let her know the administrative arrangements and when they want her to sign on.

Is there any chance she can get Health & Safety Leave prior to the redundancies based on her work responsibilities being inappropriate for a pregnant woman? And then she could extend it into Maternity Leave.

Alternatively, if her employers were particularly flexible, they may be persuaded to postpone any redundancy until after she has taken Maternity Leave (it probably won't mean much to them).  If she's in a Union, this might be something they could negotiate on her behalf?


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## Ildánach (12 Dec 2011)

Also, how long has she worked for the company?  Depending on how long she has been with them, she will have a certain amount of notice period that she's entitled to (the below is the minimum, she may be entitled to more in her contract)

2-5 years service - 2 weeks notice
5-10 years service - 4 weeks notice
10-15 years service - 6 weeks notice
15+ years service - 8 weeks notice

If they're not making the announcements until January, and she has a few weeks notice period, she could find that she's able to take her Maternity Leave prior to the redundancy taking effect, and thereby preserving her Maternity Benefit entitlement.


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## homeowner (12 Dec 2011)

Ildánach said:


> Also, how long has she worked for the company? Depending on how long she has been with them, she will have a certain amount of notice period that she's entitled to (the below is the minimum, she may be entitled to more in her contract)
> 
> 2-5 years service - 2 weeks notice
> 5-10 years service - 4 weeks notice
> ...


 
If they pay you for the notice period in your contract do they still have to give you the notice outlined above?  She will have been with them for exactly 5 years the week of the redundancies.  

Since they made it known to the staff they there will be layoffs in January, is that not the same as notice?


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