To be annoyed not to be informed about vacancies whilst on mat leave

Not correct. People on maternity leave are disadvantaged because they don’t get the ‘word of mouth’, kitchen talk, general gossip machine, that people not on leave get. She should have been informed. Not directly making her aware is discrimination. There are tribunal rulings on this. OP look up Visa International vs Paul. Same situation. Raise it with HR.

That's pretty much what you said and that poster was not rude in the slightest in pointing out your thinly veiled threat to women to not stand up for themselves.

Gently, may I suggest you aren't very robust if you thought they were rude and argumentative.

I don't think that's what I said at all. However I do get that you are rather rude and argumentative.

We get it, you don't think women should take anything like this further and should just assume their employers forgot and let it go. I had similar when I was on maternity leave and quite painlessly settled, also found a new job no problem.

Ive worked in two huge civil service departments where this is the case - your account is frozen whilst you're on leave so line managers are responsible for keeping anyone on mat leave up to date with things like this.

This is exactly what I thought.

i would contact your boss and say that you have heard there is a restructure and jobs have been advertised which you weren’t aware of. See what they say but I would be expecting an apology for not keeping you in the loop. You could take it further depending on how you feel.

Going back part time after maternity leave I suspect they are assuming you are going to be baby brained and not really interested.

Are they generally decent to work or is this par for the course?

@everystripesays you reckon. The OP would have prove losses, injury to feelings and lasting impact. May I gently ask how often you have been in an Employment Tribunal? How often you have drafted the response on behalf of the respondent?

If it goes to Tribunal and even if the judgement is in favour of the OP, do you realise that many employers are now googling prospective employees and their former employers prior to offer. It's all there.

When I was on mat leave I received a paper copy weekly of all internal vacancies from HR. It was a process the followed for everyone so not to discriminate.

So? It makes no odds to OP as the result is the same, and the employers legal responsibilities are the same. I agree not to go in 'all guns blazing' but OP would be well within her rights to take it further, and would be successful in winning a case.

And may have been a an oversight rather than a purposeful omission.

Check out "pregnant then screwed" if you want information about taking this further.

Even if it is an oversight it's not acceptable, employers are legally bound to do this:

Employers must ensure that women who are pregnant or on maternity leave are not discriminated against regarding promotional opportunities. For example, it would be unlawful discrimination for an employer to:

not inform a woman about any suitable vacancies;
discourage an employee from applying for a promotion; and/or
not promote someone who is the best person for the job, because they are pregnant or on maternity leave.

It's discrimination and sounds pretty clear cut from what OP has said.

You should have been kept informed but would you have applied for a promotional role if you had been?

By your own admission you have met your colleagues but have purposefully not discussed work. You also refer to colleagues as "the girls" which indicates you aren't particularly career minded and have said you want to go part-time.

I'm not clear if you feel denied a career opportunity or if you wish to break professionally aggrieved. But yes, you shoukd have been informed of the restructure and u less vacancies relating to it weren't ringfenced you shoukd have been told about them, along with other vacancies.

Please don't go in all guns blazing vis a vis your rights. It's likely an oversight and a request for KIT day to discuss the changes, the future and that you would like to be considered for promotional opportunities in future, is likely to be far more constructive.

If it is a restructuring, the vacancies were likely not open to everyone to apply for. They were likely only available to those whose former roles had been disestablished (which was obviously not you). So no reason why you would need to be aware.

I'd call ACAS on Monday morning, then call HR at work. You may be able to make a claim against them.

To be fair I think you should have gotten weekly emails with any vacancies. It’s not up to hr to decid which ones are suitable , it should be all.

If you don't have access to the intranet where the posts were advertised, then yes, I think they absolutely should have informed you about the changes. It's unusual for women on mat leave to lose access to company email/intranet though.

That OP isn't asking to be made aware of every job vacancy?
Op says..I would expect everyone on maternity leave to be forwarded the emails with current internal vacancies so all vacancies?

How do I know what?

They are discriminating against you by not informing you of vacancies and how the restructure might affect you

https://www.acas.org.uk/your-maternity-leave-pay-and-other-rights/while-youre-on-maternity-leave

From ACAS:
Keeping in touch with work

Before you go on maternity leave, your employer or manager should have a meeting with you to talk about how you'd like to stay in touch.

While you're on maternity leave, your employer must tell you about important changes that might affect you. For example:

• promotion or other job opportunities
• training
• redundancies
• any reorganisation

If your employer does not, this could be pregnancy and maternity discrimination.
You can also agree with them:

• what else you'd like to hear about, for example staff bulletins or social events
• how you'd like to communicate, for example by email, phone or keeping in touch (KIT) days
• how often you'd like to be in touch

How do you know that?

OP isn't asking to be made aware of every job vacancy but she should be made aware of a restructuring that directly affects her and any job opportunities arising from that that she would have been eligible to apply for if she wasn't on maternity leave.

It would be unreasonable to expect women on maternity leave to check internal comms with the frequency someone not on maternity leave would be able to. Especially if they haven't even been made aware there is any reason they may need to.

She should have been made aware by her manager of the restructure and it's impact on her.