FSU Raises Maternity Leave Concerns at FinTrU

The Financial Services Union (FSU) has raised concerns that employees on maternity leave may be disproportionately affected by redundancy proposals at FinTrU.

The union recently wrote to Darragh McCarthy, Chief Executive Officer of FinTrU, after a number of employees contacted the FSU with concerns that colleagues on maternity leave appeared to be overrepresented amongst those identified as potentially at risk of redundancy.

In the interests of transparency and fairness, the union requested anonymised data and details of any equality assessments undertaken by the company in order to establish whether employees on maternity leave had been disproportionately affected by the process.

At the time of writing, the FSU has yet to receive a substantive response to its correspondence.

The concerns arise against the backdrop of proposals that could see 114 jobs lost across FinTrU's operations in Belfast and Derry. The company has proposed 95 redundancies in Belfast and 19 in Derry as part of an ongoing restructuring programme.

The FSU has previously expressed concerns regarding the fairness of the consultation process and has called on the company to halt and restart consultation arrangements on a lawful and transparent basis.

The union has also called for enhanced redundancy terms to be applied to affected workers, arguing that employees who have helped build the company's success deserve meaningful support if redundancies cannot be avoided.

Craig Arden, Industrial Relations Organiser with the Financial Services Union, said:

“A number of employees have contacted us with concerns that workers on maternity leave may be disproportionately affected by these redundancy proposals. We have asked the company to provide information that would allow those concerns to be properly examined and addressed.

“To date, we have not received a substantive response. Where legitimate concerns are raised by employees, the company should be willing to provide transparency and evidence that its processes are fair.

“These proposals involve the potential loss of 114 jobs and will have a significant impact on workers and their families. The least employees should expect is a consultation process that commands confidence and a willingness from the company to answer reasonable questions about how decisions have been made.

“We continue to believe the consultation process should be restarted on a proper basis, and we continue to call for enhanced redundancy payments for affected employees.”

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