Possible work place sexism?

[CupcakesK]

I'm currently on mat leave and in the past month a more senior colleague has left my workplace, but due to covid they are not recruiting for the post. However, he had an important role that needed to be filled - one that one day I would have liked to have progressed to (although I had not expressed the desire to anyone previously)

There were 4 of us in his team, all at the same level and all equally qualified to do the job (the job needs certain professional qualifications and experience which we all had)

I found out through e-mail that colleague X had been given the role - although colleague X has not been promoted, just given the extra responsibility. I wasn't even aware that this was happening. In addition, colleague Y in the team was also given extra responsibilities (ones that I have no desire to do)

Obviously I'm on mat leave so unable to do this job currently, and as it is vital that someone does it, I do understand why they asked colleague X to step up to the role. However, long term this missed opportunity feels detrimental to my career. I am in a career that is very male-dominated at the senior level anyway and I feel this is one of the reasons why! In addition, in order to gain promotion I need to prove I am working at that level, which I have now missed out on, thereby making promotion harder to gain in the future

IABU - they need someone to fill his role which I can't do currently and its not even a promotion anyway, I should just forget about it

IANBU - I should speak to HR/line manager as this is how work place sexism starts. I should have been given the opportunity to express my interest in the role at least

@TumbleBingQuack my point is that a lot of people are facing redundancy in the current situation, not that the OP has no legal right to take maternity leave. My point was that the business may be putting these measures in place simply to continue as a going concern, this is the reality for a lot of employers that they have to ask more of their active workers right now so that they don’t go bust. It’s not necessarily about overlooking the OP.

Fair enough .

I still don't think you could claim sexism without turning around and saying 1.you're not here and 2.x and y are just helping out, there's no promotion or anything.

However, definitely express your interest and availability once you are back for similar opportunities.

Tbh given what you said, I completely understand why you are gutted and feel like you missed on future promises opportunities.

Look at it this way, they haven't offered anyone a permanent promotion which is in your favour. I would email your manager and say ' I am aware that x and y are doing z jobs. I just want to express an interest in these roles should they be advertised internally at a later date. whilst I am on mat leave I plan to return on x date and I alongside x and y I also have the qualifications and skills to do z role'.

Whilst I do agree with some previous posters who point out that, as you're not there, you can't do the job, and your employers aren't really being unreasonable, I understand your frustration. I think this is just another example of systemic inequality between women and men in the workplace, in terms of opportunities, career progression and pay. It does suck, and it's not right.

@TumbleBingQuack

I think the people replying to this don't have much experience in HR. To say that "you're the kind of person that puts people off hiring women" is awful - OP is well within her rights to have a baby and maternity leave, and is legally protected to do so.

OP, your company will have to inform you when they recruit for the role even if you are still on Mat Leave but there is a bit of a grey area with regards to just covering work in the interim. PP are right that you can't exactly cover the work while you're off, but that is not an excuse for your company to not offer you the opportunity for an interview for the permanent role.

The advice from PP to speak to your line manager and express an interest is good, and maybe try and word an email so you have it in writing, should you come to rely on it in future.

You are also not unreasonable to be gutted about your colleague gaining the right experience, regardless of the actual laws surrounding the issue!

Why should they hold the position empty or give it to someone in the interim while waiting for her to come off maternity leave? That is completely irresponsible of the company to leave a position empty for almost a year. This isn't sexism and OP claiming it is makes it harder for real sexism to be taken seriously.

I’m not demanding that I be given a role that I can’t currently do because of mat leave. However, I would have liked to have been consulted about it, as from the time it was known they needed to cover it, to the time of my previous colleague leaving, I could have ended mat leave earlier if I’d wanted to.

I’m not sure what some people here think sexism is. In my industry only 1 in 5 of the senior roles are held by women. That isn’t because women apply for the job and get turned down ‘because they’re female’ (although I’m sure that happens). It’s because of missed opportunities to build their experience and networks. I may have given a very minor example of a missed opportunity here, but next it could be that I don’t get asked on a business trip as it’s assumed I have childcare. Then I miss out on a project that results from that business trip and so on, while a male colleague gets all of these opportunities and therefore a promotion when the time comes.

Obviously I need to speak up more about getting the opportunities and experience I would like (lesson learnt!)

Unfortunately I've found the same, that as a woman you need to be even more vocal and fight for opportunities, totally agree about business trips etc as well, it's infuriating. My old place used to work the same, small teams and to progress you would have to have been acting up to get the sufficient experience, so although there would be a formal recruitment process for new roles eventually, it would be a shoe in for whoever had been acting up. I feel like this particular instance isn't discrimination, but it is part of a wider issue. I would do a KIT from home, get some time in with your manager and just outline some of what you want to achieve when you're back etc.

And it will be indirect discrimination if the role comes up but you have zero chance because you were not included in discussions etc that would still have an affect on your return.

It should have been on your development plan if you were interested in those types of responsibilities

Do you have a female mentor at work?

Does your company have any equal opportunity objectives or any similar Human Resource programmes?

Definitely put yourself forward.. Hey guys, I see that since the departure of John, you have redistributed the responsibilities, I know that my maternity cover might not want to take up these roles but I would love to be involved in the restructuring of the departmental roles and think I have what it takes due to A B and C to take this new structure to the next level and leverage this change to achieve L K and N. In fact, I have put together a proposal as to how this could work on project W or with client P.

Also get yourself on some industry panels and find yourself some female mentors even if they are outside of your company.

This is indirect sexism and this is exactly how women get left behind. Maybe post this in the Feminism section and ask for advice there. YADNBU.

@FattyBoom

It should have been on your development plan if you were interested in those types of responsibilities

Yes, but OP seems to think they can read her mind and automatically know she’s interested despite her never actually showing an interest

@heartsonacake
Except often in male dominated companies, men don’t have to show overt interest. People just assume if they are capable of doing the job they WILL be interested whereas people don’t always consider women in the same way because ‘she’s just had a baby, she won’t be thinking about that at the moment’. This is exactly how unconscious bias operates.

I totally disagree with the majority on here. Working in HR we would normally open this opportunity out to everyone in a fair and transparent way. You would have the chance to apply for the role and if successful would be appointed whilst on mat leave. One of your other colleagues may well then step up on a temp basis until your return. This is discrimination (not bcoz a male was appointed) but bcoz a female on mat leave was not given the opportunity to apply.

It also possible that they've allowed him to act up, rather than recruiting for a replacement, because you're on mat leave and once you're back they'll recruit.

Given you're not in a position go take on these duties you've said are essential, I'm not sure what else you'd have had them do?

This is discrimination (not bcoz a male was appointed) but bcoz a female on mat leave was not given the opportunity to apply.

But there was nothing to apply for. There is no role yet.

think this is just another example of systemic inequality between women and men in the workplace, in terms of opportunities, career progression and pay

Hmm, not really. If the OP was at work but one of the men on sabbatical then presumably she would have been offered one of the opportunities and the man who was absent wouldn't. Workplaces can't give work to people who are not there.

It’s depressing how many women here do not understand their rights and the rights of other women in the workplace. Maternity leave should not lead to any career disadvantage over colleagues not on leave. Ergo there should have been a transparent process, or the current arrangement clearly recorded as temporary until your return.

@TumbleBingQuack is 100% right.

OP I’m an employment lawyer and the vast majority of the comments on this thread are not based on legal foundation!

This could be discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy/maternity (rather than sex discrimination which is unlikely to apply). If the reason for you not being informed of the role was the fact you were on maternity leave then that is unlawful unfavourable treatment. You have the right to be notified about vacancies and to be able to apply for them whilst on mat leave.

However, if the duties have genuinely just been redistributed on an interim basis then that could be slightly different to a role actually being filled by a colleague. It could be that they’re intending to offer you a share of the duties on your return.

I think it’s worth an email to HR noting your disappointment and asking whether a recruitment process for the role will be undertaken or whether you will be given the opportunity to undertake some of the duties on your return. If they say no, that does heavily imply that the role has been given to your colleague unfairly.

Thanks again to everyone who has posted their opinions on this.

I don’t know how temporary the role X has been given will be. The overall job of my colleague who left will not be recruited to for a long time, if at all, due to Covid and poor finances. However, I don’t think X’s role will be redistributed either. I think I will be given other parts of my old colleague’s job, but these are the same level as what I currently do. So I’m disappointed to miss out on the opportunity to work at a higher level.

I have previously expressed to my line manager the direction I would like to take my career, but did not pinpoint specific peoples’ jobs as such. So I do take some blame for this, however I think it should have been clear to them that this role would have been of interest to me.

Nothing I can do now, but lesson learnt about being more vocal in the work place

YABVU, how on earth is this sexism.

The role is important and needs to be covered asap. You are still on Mat leave so cannot do the role regardless of your gender.

Also they haven't even given the role to someone else, just asked others to step up and share the extra workload, so you don't know whether the role will be advertised in full later (although its likely the person currently covering it will get it, since they will have experience you don't)

@MrsPinkCock

OP I’m an employment lawyer and the vast majority of the comments on this thread are not based on legal foundation!

This could be discrimination on the grounds of pregnancy/maternity (rather than sex discrimination which is unlikely to apply). If the reason for you not being informed of the role was the fact you were on maternity leave then that is unlawful unfavourable treatment. You have the right to be notified about vacancies and to be able to apply for them whilst on mat leave.

However, if the duties have genuinely just been redistributed on an interim basis then that could be slightly different to a role actually being filled by a colleague. It could be that they’re intending to offer you a share of the duties on your return.

I think it’s worth an email to HR noting your disappointment and asking whether a recruitment process for the role will be undertaken or whether you will be given the opportunity to undertake some of the duties on your return. If they say no, that does heavily imply that the role has been given to your colleague unfairly.

It's clear this isn't a vacancy, therefore there is no need for the OPs employer to notify them on mat leave. The role hasn't been offered to anyone else, the workload just redistributed. So most of the comments are in fact based on legal foundation, most previous posters just read the OP and replied based on the information it contained.

I agree I am being a bit unreasonable here and just need to suck it up.

It seems that in an industry that is well known for gender inequality, there are some obvious reasons as to why this is so.

I will have to work harder to find the experience and opportunities elsewhere so that if this job is eventually advertised I am on an even footing with my male colleague, just like many other females have to do

I'm flabbergasted at the hostility to the OP on this thread.

She wasn't at work because she had a baby. She's not on a sabbatical!

Legislation was brought in to protect mothers on maternity leave and yet here we are, women, telling the OP "well you had a baby - you can't have it both ways - bloody cheek be lucky you ha e a job".

I can't believe people are condoning the potential discrimination (based on the fact she is on maternity leave not her sex) she has been subjected to.

People arguing against the solicitor and HR specialists too just because you don't like the answer

Changed my vote from YABU to YANBU after reading the employment lawyer’s post.

I totally agree that you should email HR. You shouldn’t lose out whilst on maternity leave.

@JBizz

An employer does not get to circumvent the law simply by stating they have “redistributed” duties when in fact they have transferred an entire job role (if indeed that has happened).

Thankfully, employment judges usually see through transparent attempts to breach equality legislation.