To think my promotion has been dropped because of pregnancy

[preggerswithnopromotion]

I work as a professional fee earner in the UK branch of an international company specialising in real estate.

I've worked here now for almost 12 years from graduate through to associate and this year I was put forward for associate director. I'm behind my peers in terms of promotion due to a combination of the nature of my work and the fact I went off of mat leave three years ago and missed a round. I digress.

This June I put myself forward for promotion and my line manager and divisional support accepted this and proposed me to the board. I enquired today where we were with this, given the deadline for signed submissions is mid November. My director in charge has told me they aren't progressing with my promotion due to my low billings this year comparative with my target. This was communicated to me today, so far I haven't responded.

My billings are below target, due to the nature of my client work. This was evident at any point through this process, our company is commercial and therefore you can look up any fee earner by name and find out their billings against target within seconds - all my senior directors and my line manager were aware of this fact when they agreed to support my promotion. To me, the only thing that has actually changed since then is the fact that I am now 17weeks pregnant which I announced two weeks ago. I feel as though they are using my marginal billings as an excuse to pull my promotion and it's actually because I'm knocked up.

I don't know what to do. I don't know whether to fight fair and argue my billings back, whether to challenge them on discrimination against my pregnancy or whether I just leave it, bank my maternity leave, get my head down for a year once I'm back and then leave the company for somewhere else where I can genuinely build my career without feeling bitter about this.

I have worked above and beyond my pay grade and my hours for so so long chasing promotions that have slipped by. This year I genuinely felt I was in a good strong position to go in front of the board and argue my case and now I'm just a mixture of angry and deflated.

I know I'm not really going to get any answers to the above ramblings on MN, but I'm bloody annoyed and scorned and avoiding actually responding to my director in change until I've got a check on my(very hormonal, over emotional)self.

In your position I would probably point out the pertinent point - that nothing has changed since you were proposed, apart from the announcement of your pregnancy, which seems pertinent to your being overlooked for promotion. Ask for a meeting with HR and the relevant person to review the process.

Maternity discrimination is a big deal. Most employers would be shit scared of a case. However, only you know if you can withstand the conflict, and what might come down the pike in terms of later poor references (even informal). I know the law as a profession can be really shitty towards working parents.

You have hung in there a long time and been overlooked. The only solution is to change companies sometimes. To be honest I would be long gone you are now part of the furniture, take your maternity leave then look for a new job.

You could possibly use it to negotiate an exit package. You agree not to pursue discrimination, they pay the equivalent mat package you don’t have to pay back, give you a shining reference and an NDA on both sides. I’ve seen it done.

Any friends in HR law you can call tomorrow?

@CobaltLoafer I actually thought about that, just for the joy of having a clean break. But I'm a professional accredited to several bodies and whilst I'm in continued employment through my mat leave my company will pay several thousand pounds worth of membership fees which I would otherwise be liable for. I'm not concerned about references, locally I'm well known within my profession so I am confident I could successfully move company.

I think I'm just pissed off that they've done this. I'm going to bring it up with HR in the first instance but knowing that HR are really programmed to save the company and not the employee, they won't fall down on my side will they?

It's not been made clear to me at which precise part of the process my promotion has been halted and where in the national promotion framework that sits, so I suppose I could request that information as a starting point.

I'm in your industry. If you are with one of the big players they know they have problems with how they treat women. Raise it. Good luck x

Join a union
www.tuc.org.uk/join-union

Speak to Pregnant Then Screwed
pregnantthenscrewed.com/

Also in your industry but on the owner side but trained in a similar firm.

I think if your billings are low, it’s very hard to be promoted unless the market is strong. I think whilst there could be an element of pregnancy discrimination, the reality is that promotions are likely to be few this year due to the various profit headwinds (chiefly transactions volumes) caused by Brexit. Unfortunately working really hard isn’t a reason unless you are demonstrably ahead of your peers results-wise.

I would absolutely raise it with HR if only to put down a marker for down the track if you discover that they haven’t followed process, etc.

Can you use your mat leave to look for a new role? I have quite a few friends who have taken that route.

You lose nothing by taking legal advice to assess your chance of success.

Ultimately people get away with discrimination because few are willing to stand up against it.

Your billings are low.

Perhaps they thought the offer of promotion would mean you would raise them?

They can’t promote someone with low billings.

Is your billings similar to others in your department?

It doesn't look great for them that the person who is passed over twice just happens to have just given birth or be pregnant at the time on each occasion. Anybody else (male or just not pregnant) getting progressed with similar or worse figures?

It might be advantageous to remain 'amenable' to remain in a position to gather documentation in the immediate weeks following this decision.

Sorry, I didn't mean to drop feed, I'm the only one in my office being pulled, there are two others put forward with very similar billings and both are progressing through promotion.

I don't work in transactional agency so my billings are 100% fixed on existing contracts with agreed fee schedules negotiated by more senior directors. Therefore whilst I take the point about billings, whilst I'm in the role, my billings will always be dictated by fee contracts negotiated by other people, therefore I don't think it is reasonable to use this as an excuse (hence why no one else is being held back on account of this).

I think I work in your industry. My (v large, international) firm is talking the talk about gender pay gap / diversity / equal opps but the simple fact is that mat leave has massively held me back even though I have worked my arse if for seven years since coming back. I'm nit the only person it's happened to.

I'm moving now as it seems to be the only way to overcome it.

I would put your comments to HR as a starting point. Good luck.

Based on your update, it seems to be a clear case of maternity discrimination. I would absolutely go to HR asking for an investigation into the process for decision making, laying out the similar billings of the other two being progressed.

Wrt your benefits during maternity leave, you could negotiate an exit which includes ALL the benefits you would have received had you stayed. If you have a strong case you could also go for a cash settlement on top of this. I’ve seen tens of thousands paid out for much less. Get legal advice.

I'd go back to HR as your billings are fixed and ask them how was you supposed to increase them when senior team had fixed the fees.

Do they expect you to generate new business as well as deliver the current instructions?

From the info you’ve given it seems quite possible that you are being discriminated against for being pregnant.
CobaltLoafer has some good advice and seems to understand this industry; I’d follow her advice and don’t forget about negotiating benefits such as membership fees if it gets that far.
Despicable behaviour on their part. Good luck and congratulations on your pregnancy.

I didn’t think you being on mat leave meant you should have been passed over for promotion, you should be treated the same as the other employees and offered promotion. So you could bring this up with HR too.

Start gathering info on the others being promoted with similar billings (presumably they are in a similar situation, billings dictated by contracts negotiated by others?) and start the start of gathering evidence (are you in a union? do you have legal insurance?) about sex discrimination on grounds of pregnancy. If it's happened before can you get evidence of that too, since it will undoubtedly strengthen your case.

And as PP said: use it all to your advantage to negotiate a good package including all the membership fees etc and a lump sum. And go elsewhere.

good luck

Also if your billings are part of your KPI presumably you accepted this at some stage? Don't accept KPI that you can't influence in some way.