To not feel guilty about maternity leave colleague

It's not difficult to understand tbh.

You don’t need to feel guilty but maybe a bit of understanding of her position would be nice. Pretty sure if you’d been working hard covering someone’s role (since they didn’t hire a cover for 6 months!) and then you got put at threat of redundancy but the sick person didn’t, you’d be pissed off too

She’s entitled to question how the redundancy process is managed, its not personal.

Lots of 'projection/heard it on the grapevine/she wants me to feel guilty' here!
Sounds like you are trying to make her look bad and as if she's horrible to you while she's off and can't defend the (what sounds like bullying) bitching?

I think that's possibly the point though NinePumpkins - if you're now on unpaid sick leave, your company doesn't have to worry about paying you at the moment: She is anxious because they are paying her mat pay and she's not there. It's really understandable that she's anxious, and also that she's cheesed off that having done her time she's now having her time with her baby spoilt by this. Even if she is kept on, I can see that she would still be really anxious about what she would be returning to.

I don't think you need to feel guilty. I don't want to rain on your confidence here, but I also wouldn't assume you are safe if your role has already ceased to exist by default. If they're trying to save money by reducing/merging administrative roles, they would have no reason to consider you for redundancy at the moment as you're not costing them anything. If you're beyond the 28 weeks SSP, as PP said they may be planning to manage you out under sickness policy if they decide they need to reduce staffing at your level, and therefore don't need to announce redundancies in your band. If I were you, I would still be checking your contract and thinking about joining any union if there is one and you have not already.

I thought there were new rules now that give you priority if you are on maternity leave

‘Reading between the lines’ is often projection of our own unwanted emotions and thoughts onto other people.

I dare say you might be feeling some guilt and worry (whether it is warranted or not) but for whatever reason are struggling to acknowledge it. By projecting it all onto her “she thinks I should feel guilty” you get to defend your ego and then have it validated by others “you have nothing to feel guilty for”.

It is very unfair of the mother though.

There is no reason to feel guilty in case of redundancies.
You could feel guilty about spreading rumors about those at risk, it's a bit shit.

I agree with others. You don’t need to feel guilty but she’s entitled to feel upset and stressed by the whole thing. I’m on maternity leave atm and if I was told my role was at risk I’d be so stressed.

You sound very confident your role is ok even though you’ve not worked 6 months and no one is covering for you? I’d be more worried about that than spending your time not feeling guilty that your colleague may lose her job as I think you could be more vulnerable than you think.

She might get a great payout. I was offered only full time or redundancy when I was on May leave. I got a lawyer who got me a big payout. It massively changed our financial security for the better.

I think you should probably consider whether they’re looking at dismissing you on capability rather than offering you redundancy. You could be in a more vulnerable position than your colleague.

TBH it sounds like you have history with this woman. She's protected by law ATM, being on maternity leave. But is allowed to feel what she likes about the situation, independent of you, your feelings, and which positions are under threat.

People don't seem to understand that roles are made redundant, not people.

We had this at my work - pretty much every department apart from mine at risk. There was the same feeling that we all should have been in the pool and it cause a lot of bad feeling.

Honestly how she feels about being made redundant isn’t really any of your business let alone something you need to feel guilty about. Just focus on yourself.

I would be worried if I was off for six months and my job didn’t need covering. You may want to get in touch with HR and start discussing a phased return to work if you are able.

It sounds as if they may be getting rid of the admin function and having other teams absorb the work.

Especially since you've said youve been off a lot since you started 4 years ago, now been off for 6 straight months and aren't able to give an estimated return to work date, you must be quite far along in terms of their sickness management policy.

This is exactly what I am thinking. Especially if no one has been covering the role during the 6 months absence. It doesn't exactly sound like a business critical role.

Is there a possibility that they will get redundancy and the company can manage you out under the sickness policy? That way everyone goes but they don't pay redundancy to everyone.

That's a lot of reading between the lines.

Have you even spoken/messaged, or are you just overthinking this?

How can there be nobody covering your role if you've been off for 6 months?

It doesn't sound like she wants you to feel guilty. She is questioning the redundancy process and the identification of the "pool", which she is entitled to do.

No one’s asking you to feel guilty. She’s understandably stressed and upset because it’s a shit situation and she wants to maximise her chances of keeping her job.

It's not your fault so I wouldn't feel guilty but at the same time I'd have a bit of empathy. Women on mat leave get treated so badly, you're lucky if you have a job to go back to with people enthusiastic to see you back, however good you are at your job. It's also really hard to get another job if people think or know you've got a baby or toddler at home and mums have bills to pay too. I hope you make a great recovery and I'd focus on your own position really

I believe there are new laws that protect women on mat leave from redundancy, which is why she won't have been consulted with.