As the title says really, I'm in a very confusing situation and really need some help to process things in my mind. I want to raise a complaint with my former employers and really can't do with my current understanding of events. This could be long so thanks in advance to anyone who makes it to the end.
Up until the end of December 2012, I worked part time in an office and had done for about 4 years. At the end of 2011 I had gone on maternity leave and returned in July 2012.
During the time I was on ML, there had been a lot of change going on in the organization and an office move that had been rumored for sometime was finally announced in April 2012. Due to the new location of the office and the feasibility of getting DS1 to school, I inquired about the possibility of taking voluntary redundancy as job losses had also been announced as part of this move. My area manager told me she would look into it for me.
I returned from ML on 1st July 2012 with, despite keeping in contact with my manager, no date for the office move announced. We had received written confirmation that a move was definitely going ahead but that was it. On my second day back we were informed that the office would move across the following week. I was then approached by the area manager who informed me that, a decision had been made not to make anyone redundant but they were going to redeploy me to a different office on the other side of the County (Large rural area about 50-60 miles from my previous office base, although about the same distance from my home as the old office) .
As DS1's school and DS2's CM are on this side of the county and with all things considered (I would have been expected to find alternative childcare for a 7mo and a new school place within 3 working days and have the children ready to start there, not to mention my CM has the standard 4 weeks notice to terminate contract clause in her contract), I said this would not be possible and was then asked if I would hand in my notice but stay on in my current post until September (I had received enhanced maternity pay and this was the amount of time I would need to work in order to avoid paying any money back). Although I now know this is the absolute worst thing I could have done, I gave in my notice and moved office with the rest of the team.
When September rolled around, I began to have second thoughts about giving notice, although the days were long, I was getting DS1 to school on time and things weren't as bad as I'd anticipated they'd be. I then wrote a letter asking to either retract my notice or extend it to 31st Dec (although made it very clear I would prefer to retract it completely). This was sent to my area manager who sent it to her manager J, as, I was told she would have to authorize any kind of notice retraction. Despite chasing this, I heard nothing until the day before I was due to finish (apparently J had been on leave) and the verdict was; if I was still unwilling to move to the other office, I could extend my notice but not retract it. At the time I thought this, although frustrating was fair enough and got on with looking for jobs. On my leavers questionnaire, I mentioned how I would have liked to stay.
Roll on to 11th January 2013 (if you're still with me), I'd been selected for interview for a post I'd seen on the internal vacancies website before I'd left. When I attended for the interview, I was told by J who was on the panel that they would be unable to interview me because I was no longer internal staff (annoying but fair enough). When acknowledging this I mentioned how much I had wanted to stay on which is why I'd applied to rescind my notice in September. J then became very defensive and informed me of the following;
- That I had never applied to rescind my notice and if I had she would have had nothing to do with this
-That I had asked to extend my notice 3 times and implied I had been difficult about it but at the same time denying any involvement on her part.
- That I would have never been asked to hand in my notice insinuating I was either lying or confused.
- That I had never asked to be made voluntarily redundant
Due to being a stickler for keeping paperwork I have evidence that contradicts all of the above. I have also now been told I should have been able to rescind my notice regardless which throws question on why I was told I needed to apply in the 1st place.
I know somewhere along the line I have been wronged and am really annoyed by the situation I find myself in. Given the choice I would have stayed where I was. My mum thinks I've been constructively dismissed although I think that's very OTT and is more a communication failure (for which there were many during my time with the organization ). Can anyone shed some light on what this is? and what action, if any I should take? Happy to be told I'm making a mountain out of a molehill.
Thanks for reading, I really didn't mean for this to be the essay it is!
