Zoe, 28, should have been enjoying her maternity leave with her new daughter, but her world was turned upside down when she received a call from her employer. Her manager asked if she would consider a substantial pay-cut on her return to work, saying that the company was to be sold to a new owner and some jobs might have to be cut in the process.

Zoe explained that she simply could not take a pay cut since she needed every penny to support her growing family. Soon afterwards another call told her that the company was indeed being sold, most of the staff would have jobs with the new owners but that she would not. She was desperate and came to see us for help.

Having heard her story, we tried to negotiate with the employer and in the end put in claims for automatic wrongful dismissal, sex discrimination, the payment of holiday and notice pay and the proper redundancy payments. All claims were successful despite her employer trying to leave its responsibilities behind by the sale of the business.

Zoe had been a loyal employee for 10 years and her total payments from the case were in excess of £11,000, providing her with some security whilst she looked for another job. She was incredibly relieved and pleased.