1 in 7 women made redundant after maternity leave. Plus, new guest blog from Maternity Action

Happened to me, kind of. They made things so utterly soul-destroyingly vile for me when I got pregnant, I believe they wanted to just make me leave, before maternity leave would even kick in. I'd have had a good case for constructive dismissal, had things come to it. I'd been there nine years, no trouble, so for it to start when I came back from honeymoon, having been stupidly open that I'd be TTC on honeymoon, was rather suspicious. I ended up going on sick leave due to work-related stress when I was 17 weeks pg, and didn't go back! They were therefore forced to pay me sick leave for five months, then my full maternity package. Part-way through my ML, I got a letter that said they were considering making some Voluntary Redundancies, and wanted to gauge interest. I said I would be interested. My rep/solicitor ended up negotiating for me a very decent payoff/redundancy, which I happily took.

Yes, I was made redundant. "Restructuring" apparently, because there were too many people at my senior level . However, while I wasn't on maternity leave, I had an ectopic pregnancy which required (limited time - total 4 days) off work, so my company were, unfortunately, aware I was TTC. Fatal.

Their attitude, after initial sympathy, totally changed towards me. I was a maternity risk and was about to cost them money. Suddenly, from being top performer of my peer group and headhunted for my job, i was getting interim appraisals because there was "a perception" that my work wasn't up to scratch. I.e. they couldn't point to any examples and all comments were mysteriously anonymous, but wanted rid of me and had to go by the book. I was exceeding targets and had excellent client feedback. It all happened in about 4 months and I was made redundant along with mostly other women of childbearing age. Six months TO THE DAY they employed someone else in my role.

I was made redundant whilst on maternity leave with my first child. Officially the redundancy happened the day I went back, but I was actually told that my job wouldn't be there when I got back during the week that DS was due

Happened to someone I know - she was made redundant from a city law firm when on maternity leave. She was one of their senior employment lawyers.

There are diff types of redundancy too depending on numbers involved. Many big firms just serve compromise agreements - agree to this doc or lose earned monies. Effectively sacking in nicer wrApping.

I'm not shocked in the slightest. It's happened to several women I know. My boss tried it with one woman in my workplace but backed down when she said she'd take him to tribunal. I was the next pregnant one but was accommodated fairly well, but persuaded by him to become a full-timer again far too soon and had a workload greater than I could cope with heaped upon me. I lasted 6 months like that then stopped work to be a SAHM for a while. I was mired in the whole thing at the time, but looking back, if I had documented all the comments and demands I could have had a case for constructive dismissal.

Not necessarily a formal redundancy process SmellieWellies. As I posted up thread some exits labelled "redundancy" are nothing of the sort unfortunately.

Smithson6 yeah it's shit isn't it :(

What is interesting though is the question of 'being made redundant' means it is quite a formalised process, with records.

Alot of us here are talking about essentially being coerced to leave. Bullied, pushed, demoted. The stats on that would be harder to verify, as like me, many of the women here have said they ultimately made the choice to leave. So it looks like a resigning, when it was not really.

I think I was sidelined and yes demoted. Technically I was at the same level- but my job involved alot of travel, and I was always passed over for that. Other part timers travelled and then got time off in lieu, so it was not just being part time. I did have a one week trip to the States this year because our US office refused to take anyone else as it was my portfolio. Technically i was due for 4 days off as I work 3 days a week, travelled two and worked two extra, and my boss said to ask for that was 'taking the piss' and so i just got the 2 time off in liue days that a full timer would have gotten. So they got 2 extra days out of me for free. (plus really, I have worked so much overtime that i could have finished way back in September...)

Incidentally, I am 'not working' today and have been. And my boss has just called and begged me to extend my notice period beyond April as they 'really need' me.

(Ps- it is SnowyWellies here. Recent nc)

A round of redundancies were due before I told my boss I was pregnant. The week before I mentioned it we were advised that our department was safe. 1 week after I told my boss I was made redundant. Worked out for the best in the long run for me and my family but its so unfair all over.

I have gone back to work after each of my three children. The first and second time was fine, it was on the same, pay, same terms and conditions with some home working thrown in. The third time, I was asked if I would come back and was asked to help the company find my "temporary replacement" which I did. 6 months later they didn't want me and kept my replacement. I was a little upset and felt let down as I'd been at the company for 10 years. It was a real kick in the teeth at the time but you have to get on with life. A month later, I found a job at the same company but different dept. It wasn't a pleasant job, but I managed to negotiate three days wfh and 2 days in the office. I wasn't too keen on getting this job so laid all my cards on the table, which to my surprise paid off and was hired the next day. 8 months later I lost this job as did many others due to dept being outsourced to India. Since then I changed career direction completely and went from It consultant to part-time property developer with my husband. This works well for us and gives me quality time with the family. We just had our first holiday in three years last month. What us women are great at is taking a bad situation and turning it around for the better! What seems like a nightmare at the time can sometimes be a blessing in disguise.

KateMiddleton one of my coworkers was successful at proving constructive dismissal at tribunal and she told me if she could go back she would not do it again. She said that the stress levels were unbelievable, her whole family suffered and that if she could go back, despite having won her case, she would have just picked herself up and moved on to another job.

Proving constructive dismissal is very, very, very difficult. The costs of making a tribunal claim with legal support run to tens of thousands of pounds and you cannot claim costs from the other side in normal cases.

It's often not worth the gamble for many women.

I was made redundant by 'default' I suppose you'd call it

I was covering ML as a temp, and was promised the FT contract as the woman in question had already given notice verbally.

She was just coming up to her last month of ML, and the company offered her redundancy. She accepted, I lost my job with immediate effect, no notice, nothing.

I was on a temp to perm contract and was told that they were happy with me and I would definitely be made perm. I announced my pregnancy and then all of a sudden the perm disappeared and I was back on the dole. This was a couple of months after being made redundant from a different company a couple of weeks before my wedding.

Having read the thread, there are a large number of posts here which could easily be regarded as constructive dismissal.

The problem is that most women dont have the energy or the resources to take a case to tribunal, so they just go, and their rights get trodden on.

Or they dont want to ruin their chances of re employment at a senior level through a high profile tribunal case, so they just sign a compromise agreement and take the money. (Like my friend too )

But, there is no doubt that the majority of posts here support the guardian piece. Sadly, discrimination is alive and well in UK plc

and actually, this thread has not asked for specific clarity about whether redundancy is a direct result of maternity leave, it has asked whether posters have been made redundant on maternity leave, whether their jobs have changed when they got back to work and for them to "share their thoughts" which is actually very broad. If it is important to you that people clarify what their actual status was then ask them to. Don't call them confused and infer that they don't understand how stats work. over and out.

I was replaced by my maternity cover so they had no motivation to agree to my request for flexible working. So in essence it was made impossible for me to return.

well that's 1 out of 95 then. I'm not out for an argument, I want to read the stories that the posters have about their experiences in the workplace after having a child and wanted to reply that I don't think that anyone is "moaning" or "confused". Its an important issue.

Smithson to explain further.........Its one of those odd stat things......redundant after maternity is pretty broad, you could get similar stats off men I expect if you asked "were you made redundant within say three years of having a child?" redundancys common these days....... redundant as a DIRECT result of maternity is entirely different and where the focus should be and is where the discussion should be based...

Smithson

"I read the thread and didn't see anyone.... talking about men being paid more."

Please see page one

"I'm still about £5000 in earnings behind the man who got that job at that point."

So ill be ignoring your attempts to attack my position by branding me as 'snotty' until you've actually read the thread ok....

I think this might trump most for shittiness. Obviously this happened to a friend

Not only was my friend's job advertised without telling her but she found out her job was being restructured after her FIL read an article in The Telegraph that her office where she was the manager was being merged with the office next door. In other words the bastards employer briefed the press before they spoke to her. Does she win the thread?!

I have hundreds of these because I do some voluntary work helping women who have been screwed over after leave. They have all got a pay out but when the career damage, emotional fall out and reduced earnings are taken into account it's hardly adequate compensation.

I wasn't made redundant, but ended up leaving for another job anyway.

Before ML I was the Support and Testing manager with two teams under me. I returned from ML to find that my assistant had been promoted to a new (and better paid) position as Testing manager, taking half of my team with him. On top of that my boss started to override my decisions, where before he had full faith in me. He also undermined me with my staff, even when it involved someone who had a holiday request refused, but went and booked it anyway then told my boss I'd approved it. I said that was ridiculous as it would leave the team without any staff for two weeks, but I wasn't believed.

The only bright side to that episode was that I did manage to get a new, and much better paid job AND did it before all of the holiday, so they were left with no one in support for two weeks. HA!

I would call that constructive dismissal.

mungotracy well you came across as being chippy to me. A lot of the interesting posts here have talked about how posters felt sidelined or pushed out under restructuring etc. which is relevant because they are grey areas where women can be discriminated against but probably wont stand up in tribunal. I read the thread and didn't see anyone "moaning" or "confused" about the situation or anyone talking about men being paid more.