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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel annoyed that I missed out on a job because I am a woman

320 replies

curtainsy · 20/06/2019 19:28

I've just started back at work after 12 months off for maternity leave. Before I went off I had a meeting with HR and my manager to go over my rights etc. One of the things HR said was that they have to keep me informed of job vacancies.

I have now started back and found out that a promotion came up within my team 2 months ago. Four colleagues applied and one of them was appointed. AIBU to be absolutely raging that I wasn't informed?
I don't actually know what to do about it as it's all been done now and he is in this new job so I feel like complaining is pointless.

OP posts:
Iggly · 21/06/2019 13:30

It is indirect sex discrimination because she’s off due to maternity leave.

NoSquirrels · 21/06/2019 13:33

This thread continues to give me the RAGE.

a business cannot ring individuals who are off every time there is a job vacancy

Course they fucking can. Her line manager could find time to send an email to a member of their team. That's what managers are paid for.

Auellica · 21/06/2019 13:52

If you weren’t checking emails whilst on leave, how else would you like to have been notified? Truly.

You didn’t miss out because you’re a woman. A male equivalent who may have taken parental leave could likely miss out too.

You’re way overreacting.

NoSquirrels · 21/06/2019 13:53

If you weren’t checking emails whilst on leave, how else would you like to have been notified? Truly.

Personal email. Home phone. Mobile phone. Letter.

Original poster
curtainsy · 21/06/2019 13:54

@optimisticpessimist01:
"Sorry OP, if I knew internal promotions would be advertised through only e-mail I would check my emails once a week. I have the same system password reset which I can do through logging into the system at home and doing it.

Unfortunately, you are correct to be annoyed, I would be too. But a business cannot ring individuals who are off every time there is a job vacancy."

This is not the same system as mine then as it cannot be reset from home. In fact, thinking about it I actually had to sneak my laptop home when I left as my manager kept telling me not to take it and that I'd better not log in when I was off. I am very contentious and probably would have been logging on if I had access but this is not the point.

I didn't take any KIT days as it just didn't work out as my baby was very ill but I planned on taking them in the last month of maternity so this post would have already been filled by then anyway so makes no difference.

Thanks for the helpful posters who recognise that this is discrimination and there have been a lot of helpful links provided which I am grateful for. I am going to be complaining but I don't know how far I want to take it yet.

I am leaving this thread now as the backwards views of some people on here are winding me up almost as much as the situation itself.

OP posts:
Waveysnail · 21/06/2019 13:57

You have to facilitate too. I nipped into work for 10mins once a month to keep my og in and email up and running. If you really wanted promotion you could have checked work email once a week and got your laptop reset every 6 weeks.

Iggly · 21/06/2019 14:01

If you weren’t checking emails whilst on leave, how else would you like to have been notified? Truly

My HR department emailed me as agreed and sent updates in the post.

Usernumbers1234 · 21/06/2019 14:02

Lol

You didn’t miss out on an opportunity because your a woman.

You missed out because you were too lazy to check your emails.

lottiegarbanzo · 21/06/2019 14:06

The internalised misogyny and glee that some women take in keeping other women down, is palpable.

Benes · 21/06/2019 14:10

You missed out because you were too lazy to check your emails

Do you understand how maternity leave works? She is under no obligation to check her work emails (hard to do when you've been locked out anyway) but her organisation has an obligation to let her know about an internal vacancy.

My organisation writes to people in this situation.

This thread has made me so angry.

MulticolourMophead · 21/06/2019 14:11

Usernumbers1234 and you're too lazy to read that a) the OP didn't have access, and b) that the company/organisation are legally obliged to keep OP informed, something that they had already said they would do.

Benes · 21/06/2019 14:12

A male equivalent who may have taken parental leave could likely miss out too.

That would also be discrimination.

Benes · 21/06/2019 14:14

And it's not discrimination, the same would happen to employees who take time off on a sabbatical

These people would also need to be notified....why is this so hard for people to understand???

Usernumbers1234 · 21/06/2019 14:23

@MulticolourMophead

Nah, she wasn’t blocked out of her email. Her email password automatically reset after 6 weeks. So from her dates that’s 10 months that’s she known she’s not getting access to work emails and could have requested a reset.

I’m not for one second suggesting that a person on maternity leave should be checking emails on a weekly basis, but if the OP was as interested in the promotion as she’s claiming, I think there should have been some element of proactivity on her behalf, doesn’t quite fit with the level of outrage the OP has in my view. She’s complaining they didn’t contact her yet made no effort to be contactable.

Some companies have tens, hundreds of people on maternity leave at any one time. Is it really practical to have a staff member phoning each of them up every time any vacancy comes up in the business. That could be thousands of calls over a year.

Jobs are advertised on work email, that’s what HR meant by keeping her informed.If you aren’t going to have access to work email for a year, maybe you should give them an alternative

swingofthings · 21/06/2019 14:25

Nobody is arguing that you were legally entitled to be informed of the vacancy as others were.

The issue is whether this required them to contact you by private email or not. You say yourself that you took your work laptop with you despite them saying that you wouldn't need it. What would be the point of doing so if it wasn't to check your work emails? They could argue that this was their understanding and that they believed you were coming in the building every six weeks to reset your permissions.

You having the laptop put you in the same situation to your colleagues.

MulticolourMophead · 21/06/2019 14:28

Yes, her password reset, but her manager didn't want her to have the laptop anyway.

And yes, as there's a legal obligation, HR should be contacting staff who are absent. And they had said they would.

ICanTuckMyBoobsInMyPockets · 21/06/2019 14:31

Fuck me, is this thread from 1986?

What the the fuck is wrong with you people that don't understand how employment law works, yet feel compelled to comment?

This is appalling, and she should absolutely take it up with HR.

Good luck OP.

Benes · 21/06/2019 14:31

I’m not for one second suggesting that a person on maternity leave should be checking emails on a weekly basis, but if the OP was as interested in the promotion as she’s claiming, I think there should have been some element of proactivity on her behalf, doesn’t quite fit with the level of outrage the OP has in my view. She’s complaining they didn’t contact her yet made no effort to be contactable.

I completely disagree with this. She was on maternity leave, she should not have to think about updating her password every 6 weeks - something that can't be done remotely anyway. An organisation should not be expecting someone who is on any form of leave to be regularly checking their email. My organisation wouldn't have let me in to reset my password every 6 weeks. I was on mat leave and someone else was doing my job. She was contactable - via phone, personal email and post. Best practice would have been to write to her.

The organisation was not proactive enough in this case, not the OP.

Ellie56 · 21/06/2019 14:33

I am leaving this thread now as the backwards views of some people on here are winding me up almost as much as the situation itself.

Not surprised OP. The ignorant, outdated and quite frankly shocking attitudes of a significant number of posters are staggering Angry

Wake up and educate yourselves people -this is 2019 not 1950. Know your rights and what you are entitled to.

SavingSpaces2019 · 21/06/2019 14:38

Yeah cuz men are always going off on pre-arranged maternity leave, innit
They're human too - they could be ill, on sabbatical, on parental/bereavement/medical leave innit

The problem is due to their communication systems/styles/lack of management - it has nothing to do with her sex or why she was on leave.

NoSquirrels · 21/06/2019 14:39

ARRRRRGH.
Hiding this thread now.
Cannot believe people STILL think it is OK not to offer equal opportunities to people on parental leave.

Yabbers · 21/06/2019 15:02

I've had 3 lots of maternity leave and check my work emails every so often. It only takes a few minutes.

I was in meetings this morning and have 26 unread emails. I can go of for a week and there can be over 100 in there. I can only imagine what it would be like leaving it for a few weeks at a time.

I’m not an important person, the vast majority of the emails are actually irrelevant to me, I don’t need to see them. It certainly takes more than a few minutes to go through them.

Yabbers · 21/06/2019 15:03

Cannot believe people STILL think it is OK not to offer equal opportunities to people on parental leave.

They do. The flaw in their system means a man on parental leave wouldn’t have know either.

notacooldad · 21/06/2019 15:28

OP, if you still check in on this thread, I hope you get advice and take things further. You may or may not have got the job but you were denied the chance to go for a job.

Mayday19 · 21/06/2019 15:32

A man could have missed being informed too that is correct - but the poor communication will disproportionately affect women so it is still sex discrimination.

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