Redundancy sexual discrimination

[Newbossseeyounexttuesday]

Hi, I sort of know I am not being unreasonable but I need to vent. I have name changed but pretty long term poster. Going to amend a couple of details.

I have been with my current company for nearly 20 years. I am in the sales team and part of the management and leadership team. I am well thought of in the industry and have been in the company, too. We did go from a small to a large company about 5 years ago so I am now a smaller cog.
My new boss started in October. I have seen him 4 times 2 of which were conferences. He started making murmurings about my flexible working arrangements around Christmas. Just after I won an award for sales person of the group. I am not a traditional “sales person” I am an account manager but as we have no other sales team in my site I do the business development too out of necessity.
I work from home, I work 32 hours a week (but I actually end up doing more) I travel I and I have to visit 6 client a month (pro rata other full time in other parts of the business need to see 8.) this was increased in January from 4 a month. I have to really manage my diary in advance I have a child and no local relatives. I do move things round, get in baby sitters, ask my DH to take a holiday etc. I have managed my own diary now for 10 years and worked at home for 5.

New boss has decided to change the structure. My job will no longer be in the structure apparently and I have to chose one of 2. One closer to my job is wfh but I need to be available to travel on all 4 days I work and at the drop of a hat. So if he calls on Monday I need to make sure I can be with a client on the Tuesday or Wednesday no matter what my circumstances. So I can keep my 32 hours but realistically I can’t travel all the time and never have been able to.
Second job no or limited travel but working from the office. I dont child care when I am working but I do need to be here and the wfh manages that. I used to use after school club but I was asked to work from home by the company and so adjusted my life round that. Including no need for after school club. It’s now full of smaller children.
I spoke to a solicitor they said those jobs are not the same and to offer me them they have to make my position redundant. However they also have to offer me something that fits in with my current lifestyle or I don’t have to agree.
Oh and I am being removed from the management team as the boss says he can be in it now and I am not needed. I have been on the management team for 12 years at least through many managers.
I don’t want to be made redundant, I will never find a job that is as flexible but I also never asked for this much flexibility in the beginning, it was pushed on me. No full time member of staff we have had doing the BD job has met my targets or the number of meeting etc.
I also can’t take any of the jobs if they make me redundant. It’s not fair on my boy or my dog (I know it’s not the same but I wouldn’t have got him if I didn’t work from home) I use a dog walker but I would have to be out of the house from 8 till 6 minimum.
Also my husband earns at least 50% more than me some of this doing overtime and he wouldn’t be able to

So
I wouldn’t be home for my child
I would no longer be a member of the senior team
My husband won’t be able to do any overtime, so we will be bringing in less money.

IANBU to be pissed off, stressed and anxious am I?
How can a company treat someone like this.
What the bloody hell am I going to do.

Thanks for reading all this.

It doesn't have to be about figures. Maybe OP does well but is actually expected to do even better. Maybe customers have complained that they need to meet with OP at short notice but OP always turn them down.

Or maybe they have incline to believe that OP is not really doing her hours because of lot of them are spent looking after the children and walking the dog and however good she is, she is expected to work all the hours she is contracted for.

I don't know any organisation that allows working from home with children under their care at the same time.

What it sounds like is that OP stopped using after school clubs and so has a period each day when she looks after her son and can't attend meetings unless given enough time to arrange alternative childcare.

Unless the flexible working policy states that it is ok to look after a child whilst working and ok to not attend meetings if they fall during the times the child is under their care, then it was probably never intended to be as OP has been using it.

Does the demotion role come with a cut in salary, and if so, would it be effective immediately?

Have you sought advice from anybody else in the business as to why these changes are happening? More senior management or HR? What is the rationale for the proposed changes?

To be honest it sounds like you’ve had a bit too easy in terms of balancing your home and work life commitments and you may have to accept some change.

Some people are so consumed with the fact you work from home, they’re missing everything else! I work from home too OP, as does pretty much everyone in the company and changing that would have a significant impact, in the same way that if you work in an office and the office was moved to a different location, that could also have an impact on staff.

It really does sound like this guy wants you out, what a tosser. You’re clearly good at your job, maybe he’s threatened by that. Have you spoken to HR?

Ok sorry, I was working.

I don’t walk the dog we have a dog walker I am just at home with the dog and wouldn’t have got one if I didn’t work from home. And yes I agree dog is irrelevant to boss and I have not even mentioned him.

I have a great relationship with my customers and I move the earth to accommodate meetings if they need to see me I will be there.

I don’t do child care he’s 10 he comes in and he leaves or goes on the Xbox for an hour and a half. If a client wants to see me after 3.30 I can arrange something but to be honest it’s never really come up.

I am an account manager I see 6 people a month because I am not a sales person however I tend to see more.

In terms of sexual discrimination what @BreathlessCommotion said it is because my colleagues who don’t have flexible working are not being demoted or having their job changed and because this doesn’t happen to men!

Travel isn’t local, he wants me to be able to fly from Edinburgh to Cork or London and stay overnight when he wants me to. Or when he doesn’t want to visit a client.

I didn’t chose this, I didn’t chose to wfh I didn’t chose to move into a job that meant less travel that was all put on to me by my company for their benefit now it doesn’t benefit them any more they want to change it, but to my detriment.

I work technically 8.30am to 5pm however I generally work about 36 hours a week 4 are just unpaid. I even work on my day off if needed.

Yes I understand what I have was a lot better than some and yes I have people at the moment falling over themselves to speak to me about my CV and yes that would be less flexible but if I can find a more local territory then that’s fine.

It all sounds very dramatic like I have to be home every day at 3.30 for child care but it’s not. I am in the office or out with clients 1-3 days a week normal hours my DH works shifts which allow me to travel and work normally. I don’t think I described it properly in my OP but I put in the hours and I see the clients. Last month I was driving and flying between clients and internal meetings and not getting home or to my hotel until 11 at night. I do what is needed for the business.

Yes the demotion thing is more of a worry.

Just for clarity in the 6 months my boss has been with us he has arranged 2 meetings with me. And we have had one management meeting and spent 3 days at a conference that we both attended. He is in London and ironically just can’t travel up to meet me often. I have offered to meet him in London but he wasn’t available.

@AngelsSins I think you are right I think he is threatened. When he started my boss at the time waxes lyrical about how great I was then his boss sent an email to the whole company saying how well I did at the conference and then gave me 3 bottles of champagne for being the best sales person all 3 days of the conference. A conference I might add he has told me I no longer will be attending even though I have done for 13 years!

I get that wfh is blinding people but I am based from home and it would be a significant impact not to be. The building I would be working in is much further away than the one I worked in 5 years ago and even if I could get after school care I wouldn’t be back in time. Also and not to annoy people with my dog stories it will cost me £25 per day to put the dog into daycare as well as my husband not being able to work overtime so spending more money and earning less and being demoted.

Anyone know how to go about getting freelance account manager jobs

So you don't work from home? You're in the office 3 days a week? I'm sorry but I'm confused after your updates.
You say you are being removed from the management team, is this actually a demotion or is there just no requirement for you to attend meetings? Managers wfh when staff are in the office would be a strange set up.
I think your solicitor has given you totally wrong advice and I would be hesitant doing anything based on it, speak to ACAS.

I'm struggling to understand the issue.

You said that one of the job was One closer to my job is wfh but I need to be available to travel on all 4 days I work and at the drop of a hat. So if he calls on Monday I need to make sure I can be with a client on the Tuesday or Wednesday no matter what my circumstances. So I can keep my 32 hours but realistically I can’t travel all the time and never have been able to

How is this any different at all to what you are doing now from what you describe in your last post? The only difference is asking you to be somewhere at last minute, but if you don't have an issue with childcare currently and you have a dog walker, how is this an issue?

You're still working from home, and travelling. Or is the difference that you might be asked to travel further away and overnight? If so, you need to clarify how often this would be and maybe negotiate an increase in salary to represent this additional demand.

Ultimately, if there is a change to the structure and your job doesn't exist any longer, the alternative is either to fight to say that these jobs are not appropriate alternative, which can be quite difficult to do as the one above does sound very similar and therefore fight for redundancy. I don't see how you can demand that your current job remains in the new structure.

Just to add, if it isn't about childcare, how does the sexual discrimination come into it?

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head when you say that you are being looked at because of your flexibility in the role and that no other roles are affected. It is far more common for the women to need flexibility in their role as they tend to be the primary parent, as an PP has stated - there is case law around this.
Has he given solid and suitable justification for the role change? Have you been invited Face to face to discuss this with HR present?

Have no advice but if it were me I would request a meeting with HR to discuss some of your points - the fact the role was thrust upon you and you’ve built your personal life around the business needs etc. I wouldn’t mention the discrimination outfight but I would certainly allude to it.
I would then request a meeting with your manager, his manager and HR present to fully discuss WHY your role is required to change and WHY you seem to be being demoted. I wouldn’t go into the huge impact it will have on you until you can determine if your senior managers are on board with what your manager is suggesting.

You need to know if this is a manager issue or a company issue. I think that would determine whether you have a case or not. But hell no would I walk away - if they try to push you out then absolutely go back to your solicitor.

Why is this sex discrimination? Surely a man would be expected to work regularly from the office or travel to meet clients too?

YABU, it’s not sexual discrimination but I do think you need to focus on the demotion. That’s sounding very wrong. Think you’re barking up the wrong tree trying to allege discrimination. Go for the angle where there is a concrete issue.

Those saying it’s just because the role is being restructured - but WHY? Why just her role where she has been incredibly successful and often praised and awarded by senior management.
These two things don’t seem to sit well together.
If there is ABSOLUTE justification for the role being changed then fair enough but there needs to be clear reasoning behind why her role is the one affected - companies are moving more towards work / life balanced positions with flexibility. Why move away from it? Unless it’s not the company, it’s this specific manager

If there are two roles available it may not only be op affected. Flexible workers are not necessarily female so not sure how it can be sexual discrimination unless the manager selected op over a male equivalent.

I can be in the office or out with clients 1-3 days a week or at home working 1-3 days a week however I manage this very carefully so I know months in advance what my diary looks like.

For example my DH works night shift. I might go into work that day 7-4 no lunch break then head home. Or I might visit a couple of local clients come home and finish my day. If that is say a Wednesday and my boss or a client phones on the Monday and says I need you to come to Ireland for a meeting on Wednesday at 4-5 I would have to stay overnight as flights are shit but how do I do that when my DH is working night shift? Do I leave my DS on his own overnight? What if he needs me to come to a meeting in London with 2 days notice when I have parents night? I don’t see the issue with good diary planning to make me more productive. He even said himself originally that I am the only member of the team that seems to have actual planned sales meetings and not reactive customer meetings?

Why push a dedicated hardworking person out, it makes no sense. My last colleague was full time could travel whenever, he left in September in the 7 months of last year managed to do no admin, 7 meetings (in total) and 10% of the new sales. No one ever pulled him up!

@LIZS I thought this too but apparently because woman are the primary carers of children and women are primarily the ones on flexible contracts it is deemed sexual discrimination, legally. You can look it up I checked.

Also there are two roles available to me. No one else is affected as all of their job roles are remaining the same albeit under a different structure.

You know if I could wfh 2 days and work on site 2 days I might agree to the second demotion and then pull my shit together. The second role is a Multi site role so doesn’t actually need to be on site but he is pushing for me to be on site. As it is there isn’t even a desk available I think he wants to push so I leave.

What are your contracted hours and what does your contract say about working outside of them (ie overnight)? That's the only real consideration, your childcare and working around night shift issues are not your employers problem.

Please can everyone stop saying sexual discrimination. Its sex discrimination, because its based on your sex- female. Not sexual, which is something else.

Also, unless you have experience of employment tribunals, case law and employment law, I suggest you don't comment on what is and isn't the employer's concern. There is a lot of incorrect t information on this thread.

@BreathlessCommotion apologies yes sex discrimination .

I knew I would get a lot of negative posts which actually help to put things into perspective. Hoping also for some insight and also maybe a little sympathy as I work so hard and am feeling stressed sick and upset that this could happen and I could let myself be blindsided.

I appreciate you must feel stressed and totally screwed over. You are absolutely not BU about your change of role.
New boss sounds like a complete a-hole. :(
What does your contract say about your hours, place of work and need to be flexible?

I think you need to discuss with people more senior to him with the focus on the demotion tbh. I'm guessing you have no union.