Demoted after maternity leave

[Maisy313]

I've been back about 6 weeks, we are a small team in a big very well known corporation. Our boss is going on maternity leave, my colleague who was on the same level as me will be replacing her (all fine) but the person who was my junior and stepped up on my maternity leave to my position is now going to be deputy (promotion not an advertised position), the most junior person on the team is also being given a promotion. So all in all I'm the only person on the team not to get a pay rise or a promotion. All former appraisals have been great, never had any bad comments. Was told today by boss that they were just doing the best thing for the team. I want to hand in notice but literally can't afford to until I find something new, feel so sick. I was told that I was a valued member and they did appreciate me but that's just how things are.

spare There is a good chance the OP wasn't aware of what was going on because she was on leave. A good manager would have reached out upon her return and talked to the OP about this.

Legally I think it stinks of discrimination. How can someone who has been in the role for one year at most be senior to someone returning from maternity leave with multiple years in that senior role. The OP should have been considered for the deputy role while the manager is out and the reasons why she didn't get the role should have been shared with her by her manager.

Working from home one day a week isn't an issue IMO. I regularly work from home and still check in with those working for me. It has been commented on that people know I am a mother because I have eyes in the back of my head when it comes to managing people. I also promote those working under me. Just this afternoon I got an email from HR asking for people to help with training requirements in January. I forwarded the email on to the 3rd year associate working in my team who is up for promotion and let him know that we can work on his schedule if he wants to take advantage of the training opportunity.

Yes we accept and even shovel some more shit on top.
The comment about timing sounds very suspect. Write down everything you can remember. Perhaps arrange another talk to get more clarity. It doesn't matter whether you used your full entitlement or not. You are not suppose to be disadvantaged because of ML. If there were meetings about these new roles while you were off you should have been kept informed. I think how you proceed depends a lot on whether you have a u ion or not.

You can get promoted when not at work. It has happened twice in my small company when people were on mat leave.

boos
What shitty treatment though?
I can see a lack of preferential treatment but from what OP has described, I can't see any evidence of shitty treatment.

By her own admission, OP has never shown any sort of interest in a promotion. But they were supposed to use some sort of telepathic powers to think she has career ambitions? At the exact same time she is asking to spend less time in the office?

Actually what I think has happened is that the OPs request to work from home has been taken as a signal that she isn't as interested in her career now. I don't think that is true at all and shouldn't be taken as true. She is still putting in the same work as the others on her team, she just isn't in the office on the 5th day.

Don't know about anyone else but I get more work done when at home than in the office where I have a back to back teleconferences.

You can actually get promoted when you are not there, just as you can accept a new job whilst pg or on ml.

Working from home one day a week isn't an issue IMO.

It depends what job you do. In mine and DH (different roles in different companies) it would be an issue.

Actually what I think has happened is that the OPs request to work from home has been taken as a signal that she isn't as interested in her career now. I don't think that is true at all and shouldn't be taken as true. She is still putting in the same work as the others on her team, she just isn't in the office on the 5th day.

That is pure guess work though. No one knows whether that is the case or not.

It could be that by working from home that day it means it isn't viable for the OP to have to do the other roles.

I work from home one day a week, however I know that if I ever want a more senior role then the day from home will no longer be possible

It also depends whether the OP has childcare on that one day a week at home....

I work from home and have been promoted during that time. It doesn't have to be a problem.

She seems to have been put at a disadvantage by being on mat leave. She has not said she isn't I retested in promotion,in fact said she was one of the most senior members of the team.

By not considering her for promotion,or making assumptions about her career aspirations post DC, THAT is the shitty treatment.

If it was an issue for the OP to work from home one day a week her manager should have explained that to her. It is career management and a good manager will review the pros and cons of a request to make sure the person requesting the change fully know what they are asking for.

When I asked to go to PT schedule the HR manager for my group sat me down and explained in full how it all worked. She was very clear and blunt about what the expectations were. Her frank conversation with me is why my PT schedule works. I don't expect to work 32 hours a week so I am not disappointed when I don't. I do however expect to get promoted on track with everyone else who is FT and have made that crystal clear to those above me including HR. My client schedule has been changed to accommodate that.

want2b
I think we are both looking at this through the lenses of how promotions have been dished out in our respective career experiences.
In my world, people don't get a promotion by watching the internal jobs board or never mentioning it and then waiting nicely for their manager to pick them.
They get them by regularly and proactively chasing them. Requesting the role profiles of the next level up and doing stretch tasks.
This might get them placed on a management fast track, where my old company would aim to get you up 2 grades in 3 years.

Promotions aren't always awarded on 'seniority' or long service. They are awarded on competencies.
It is entirely plausible that this promoted junior has diligently done training, taken on extra responsibility and acted up over the last year, and in doing so, demonstrated she has the leadership and strategic capabilities to do a role above.
There is also every possibility that the manager got wind she was looking to leave and created a promoted role to keep her.

Either way, her career ambitions are irrelevant and separate from OPs.
KIT days aren't there to give you a running commentary of what your colleagues have been doing to progress their careers in your absence. I can't see how the manager is lax for not having done that.

I work from home and have been promoted during that time. It doesn't have to be a problem.

Which is why I have said it depends what role the OP does. You have said it isn't an issue in your company, I have said it wouldn't be possible in the fields my DH and I work in and they are different fields in themselves.

I knew I didn't want to go back to work full time after having DD. I was a civil servant and it would have been no problem to return part time, but I knew it would effectively bar me from promotion for a very long time. That's just how it was. (2011).

Custom & practice in different organisations or industries still don't trump the law.

I would follow up on the bad timing issue. If maternity leave is bad timing then that really needs looking at. What is the usual process for promotions? Have they followed it?

Custom & practice in different organisations or industries still don't trump the law

No but by working from home 1 day a week it could mean the OP is unsuitable for the other roles.

That is complete fucking fantasy though, ain't it Bubbles? Grasping at straws rather.

What would the world look like if you stopped bending over backwards?

Custom & practice in different organisations or industries still don't trump the law. Nor is every mother passed over for promotion being illegally discriminated against.

That is complete fucking fantasy though, ain't it Bubbles? Grasping at straws rather.

What would the world look like if you stopped bending over backwards?

Firstly not sure why you are being rude and sarcastic as I wasn't to you.

Secondly as I am wheelchair bound I can't bend backwards even if I wanted to! I know that's not what you ment before you pounce on me for no reason again

Actually a pregnant woman being denied promotion opportunities is specifically mentioned as unfair treatment in the Employment Statutory Code of Practice under the Equalities Act.
www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/publication_pdf/employercode.pdf
See 8.21

The OP isn't pregnant though.

Sorry not to be clearer it also covers maternity leave.

From citizens advice

"How long are you protected against pregnancy and maternity discrimination?

The protection against pregnancy and maternity discrimination at work lasts for a specific period of time which is called the protected period. The protected period begins when you become pregnant.

If you have the right to maternity leave, the protected period ends when your maternity leave ends or when you return to work, if this is earlier. If you don’t have the right to maternity leave, the protected period ends two weeks after your child was born.

If you’re treated unfavourably outside the protected period because you’ve been pregnant or have had a baby, you could still be protected against discrimination because of your sex."

The OP isn't protected.

"Bad timing"??!!

Bad timing because I was on maternity leave..?

Bad timing because I was on maternity leave when you advertised the vacancy and forgot to give me the opportunity to apply..?

Bad timing because due to you wanted this sorted before you went on maternity leave and I wasn't part of the discussion or considered because I was on maternity leave.

You have a few different options but I will tell you now your first one is not an employment tribunal you have to exhaust your internal grievance procedure first. Now I know HR work for the business, but part of the job of folk like me is to minimise the damage done when someone does something that puts that business at risk... like discriminating against or treating someone less favourably because they have been on maternity leave and so that may mean that on this occasion they are on your side op as that is the side of the business. Unless they're shit, in which case you have my condolences.

So your options are:

1. Do nothing (not much of an option but a surprising common one)
2. Go back to your boss and say what you have here, that you have been treated less favourably because you have been on maternity leave and you would expect "as a valued member of the team" to be treated at least the same as everyone else and you are very unhappy.
3. As point 2 but add "and I am seriously reconsidering my position and/or raising a grievance" or whatever seems appropriate depending how far you want to take this and your relationship.
4. Decide to leave but get as much cash out of them as possible, by being prepared to take this down a road that ultimately ends in tribunal (but one that you can step off at any time although not without incurring considerably stress and possibly expense/loss of earnings/blacklisting yourself in your industry - not right or fair but needs thinking about). You do as per point 3 but make a grievance citing the unfavourably treatment of X, Y and Z which amounts to "maternity discrimination as per Equality Act 2010" and at some point you engage an employment lawyer to help you reach a settlement.
5. Get another job, resign and move on.
6. Get another job but do point 4 any way and toss into your resignation letter that you feel the "mutual trust and confidence of our employment relationship has been breached by you due to the discrimination I have experienced as a result of taking maternity leave from period A to B".

Worth considering: the emotional and stress impacts; you only have 3 months less one day to bring a claim to an Employment Tribunal; is it worth it for you to do this (only you will know)?

Maternity Action run a very good helpline as does working families about this sort of thing. The NCT also used to have a free legal helpline run by a reputable national firm of lawyers but I don't know if they still do.