Employer making life VERY difficult.

[Titslikepicassos]

Supposed to be returning from MAT leave in June, have childcare arranged and as a key worker they will still take my baby - excellent.

Had a team meeting with work this week to discuss going back and have been told that I have to relocate as my partner works on the same site as me - which has been known since I informed them we were in a relationship, however the policy changed in October (before I went on MAT leave). While we are on the same site, our jobs are separate and we are working in different buildings, have different managers and different hours. The different hours means I will need to do drop offs and pick ups to coincide with opening and closing hours.

So during the middle of a pandemic, with child care mostly closed I now have to find a new nursery, lose a significant term time deposit and start the settling in process all over again. Not only that, they have told me to find my own employment within the company - my head is exploding with all of this. AIBU to think this is an unnecessary ball ache!

I appreciate that this is a minor problem given the amount of people losing jobs!

Christ yes to what @BlessYourCottonSocks said.

Get in touch with ACAS for advice, if it hasn't been suggested or done already.

www.acas.org.uk/

Are you currently still on your 6 month maternity leave or on annual leave immediately after finishing 6 month maternity leave? I’ve lost track of your dates.

Chaz response is best, I would just change the ending to ‘legal advice’ rather than advice.

Then add on that you are formally submitting a subject access request.

Do I warn them that I’ll be submitting a SAR or just do it?

Don’t warn them about the SAR. Also take your solicitor’s advice on timing of the SAR. They are a useful tool but might be better used later if there isn’t an outbreak of common sense.

I’d love to be in the room when they get notification of the SAR.

I was supporting a colleague through a disciplinary as a union rep. He had behaved horrendously, but he put in a SAR as part of his defence and it threw up a couple of questionable emails between management which could have been interpreted as homophobic. It was enough for him to be allowed to resign with a reference as opposed to having a record of disciplinary action, which until then was proceeding full steam ahead.

Management can be very very VERY stupid when it comes to putting stuff in writing between themselves, thinking it’ll never see the light of day.

Bastards. I’m just here to cheerlead.
Take em down, Tits.

Thank you for fighting this! You are fighting for women everywhere.

You are entitled to your job back.

I send you a hug.

I like @ChazsBrilliantAttitude's draft but would add 'legal' before advice, at the end.

I cobbled something together, thanks for the tips.

Feeling apprehensive now I’ve made it formal

Bastards

We are all behind you @titslikepicassos.

She can't just give your job to her friend. The cheek!

Good luck

Does anyone know where the thread is that was:

I was offered a job, but when I told them I was pregnant they took back my job offer.

The woman in that thread was having an employment hearing today. I want to jear how she got on, but cant find it. Can anyone link it?

Is also might be useful to the Op here

The thread is here www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_matters/3651983-Job-Offer-withdrawn-after-informing-employer-that-I-am-pregnant @annamaria14 but the hearing isn't until tomorrow

Thank you ! @tweekforteachers

Best of luck with it OP. Fight it all the way. Don't let the bastards grind you down.

HR have been in contact and it sounds very much like they have no idea what’s going on

Sorry, @Titslikepicassos, but this made me lol. It sounds like your manager has gone rogue and thinks she knows what she's doing. She's deluded, the pillock.

She appears to have made some sort of bonkers unilaterally without even checking it's legal, the daft mare. She deserves to end up on a capability procedure for this, or sent on some pretty serious training re maternity/employment rights.

Of course you can raise a grievance

Ime, because everywhere I've ever worked, grievances are heard by another, more senior, manager, they tend to stick together and rarely succeed. Sometimes going down a less formal route is better.

Where I work now, you can complain "informally" about something a manager has done that you feel is unfair. This works really well, and the manager is often sent on training courses, mentored, monitored and, often, put on the first stage of the capability process.

It also seems to prevent them ever pissing off the complainant again, because they know that if they do end up with a grievance against them, they don't have a leg to stand on.

HR have basically said that my manager will come back to me at the end of next week

Translation: manager has realised they've dropped a massive bollock and needs a week and a half to work out what to do about it.

Following with interest. Best of luck OP. I know it's horrible stress for you, but it's a worthwhile fight.

Having difficulty proving a lot of the background stuff (pushing out in pregnancy) as a lot of things were verbal. The reason this all escalated (I think) was because I refused to sign minutes that were inaccurate. I have two witnesses of boss shouting at me but not sure if they’re willing to be dragged into this.

All emails and text messages from boss are v.careful and faux supportive

@titslikepicassos. It doesn't really matter that you can prove anything or not.

Either your boss will say the same thing to HR - that she wants you to move to new job because of partner in the same building.

Or she will give you her job back.

The onus is not on you to prove anything. It is for HR to ask what your manager wants.

If she says to them - that she wants to move you. Then you can raise a grievance.

If she backtracks, then you get your job back.

Dont worry about proving anything. She is the one who said all this. So eiher says the same thing to HR, or she changes her mind.

It is crazy that she thought she could tell you to move jobs, without even consulting HR. That is such bad practice. I think her higher ips might be very unhappy with hee

*your job back

What date are you actually due to start back op?

@stealthmama - 30.06.20

@annamaria14 - thank you, I’d feel more confident with a shit load of evidence to back everything up though 😩