Looking like I'm at risk of redundancy, maternity leave approaching

[ApuskiDusky]

Hi,

Apologies for another 'redundancy on maternity leave' thread, I have looked at past threads and have some sense of the issues.

It seems likely that my department will be restructured, and overall there will be fewer jobs. The team I'm in has been asked to input into what the new structure should look like, but the outcome has been heavily steered by my line manager. It has become apparent that there isn't an obvious role for me to take up. About 10-20% of my role would go to one role, where there is someone else already doing the vast majority of this activity. The remaining 80% of my role would be combined with parts of another colleague's role, with some brand new elements. This colleague has already been positioning herself for this role, talking to influential people, and when my line manager summarised the role requirements for this role, put all the emphasis on the elements best suited to my colleague and ignoring the bits that come from my role.

I don't believe they are deliberately trying to get rid of me because I am pregnant. It is very likely that I will be on maternity leave before anything formal happens, as a lot of other stuff needs to be sorted out first.

As I understand it, if I am on maternity leave when my role becomes redundant, I should be offered a suitable alternative vacancy if one arises, even if someone else is better qualified. At least one of the roles in the new structure will constitute a vacancy, including the one that most of my current role merges into. My question is, does anyone know what constitutes 'suitable'? There are new elements in this role that they could argue I don't have much experience of, but the other obvious candidate doesn't have experience in my stuff either.

I appreciate that the overall answer to this will likely be 'it depends', but if anyone has any helpful advice of what to focus on or look at, it would really be appreciated. I have the advantage of forewarning on this, so want to take advantage of that.

[flowerybeanbag]

'Suitable' would be the same or similar terms and conditions, and job content that is suitable and appropriate for you. It doesn't matter if someone else is more suitable for the job, as long as the job is suitable for you you should get preference.

Is there a job description yet? Probably not if there is a lot more to be sorted out. When there is, that will help you establish your suitability for the role, but other than that, I think your best course of action is to see what happens, as nothing formal is happening yet, see how they propose to select people for the new roles and how to implement the new structure, and take it from there. Depending on what they say to you, you can then write to them about your extra protection as a woman on maternity leave and take it from there depending on their response.

[ApuskiDusky]

Thanks flowery, I appreciate that. It feels such a vulnerable time, because if I am made redundant it's not just a question of looking for another job. Ah well!