to feel bitter about being made redundant while on maternity leave?

[hotchocolateismything]

I had a baby in August and two weeks after that the company informed me that my role was at risk.

I'm not the only person in my company being made redundant, but I'm the only one in my department.

They used vague categories like "problem solving" and "taking responsibility" and "teamwork" as scoring criteria.

I scored lowest in my department.

I think these categories aren't really objective and they can be easily manipulated to support whoever they want to get rid of for other reasons.

I never had a disciplinary and my work overall has been quite good. Certainly not worse than other people.

I know there's nothing I can do to challenge them, as I found out on google women on maternity leave can be made redundant if a fair selection process is used and the redundancy has nothing to with the pregnancy.

I still feel it's a slap in the face and that the managers took advantage of covid to hide maternity discrimination.

There was another woman who had a baby in July 2019 and her maternity leave ended in July 2020. They made her and her maternity cover apply for the same position and her maternity cover got the role.

She appealed against the decision and they had to create a new job role for her.

She was in a better legal position to me though as she could argue that her role wasn't really redundant.

I know I have no leg to stand on, but still feel like I'm being discriminated and disadvantaged for being a woman that dared to become pregnant and is now the mother of a young child.

The HR manager said to me in August I should get back to them when I feel ready to have the consultation meetings. I had quite a difficult birth with a massive hemorrhage and was very poorly after birth so needed to recover. I still haven't gotten back to them as I don't feel like talking to them and they also didn't reach out.

*The HR manager said to me in August I should get back to them when I feel ready to have the consultation meetings. I had quite a difficult birth with a massive hemorrhage and was very poorly after birth so needed to recover. I still haven't gotten back to them as I don't feel like talking to them and they also didn't reach out.

So they contacted you in August about your opportunity for consultation and you just haven't bothered because you "don't feel like talking to them...?"*

^^ this....

Jee, op. The ball was in your court and you just let it lay there. You cant blame a difficult delivery for that. That i just failure from your side. Also: whats with the name change?

[quote hotpotlover]**@sandragreen* @NoSleepInTheHeat*

I had a very difficult birth with 2.1 litres blood loss, forceps delivery, urinary incontinence after birth, had a catheter in for four weeks, several UTIs, vaginal infections, repeated trips to see gynecologists and on Monday I have an appointment in the hospital as my perineum might have to be "refashioned". It's been very tough and I have been referred to the postnatal mental health team.

I don't think its that bad that I haven't contacted them yet. I had to concentrate on my baby and my health.

Furthermore, I also reckon, since there is probably little I can do to keep my job, it's best to drag these meetings out as long as possible. The longer I'll stay employed with the company, the shorter my stint of unemployment will be, the better it will look on my CV and it will be easier to find a new job next year.
[/quote]
I understand your position, I am just saying that they could use it against you for ex to show you are bad at time management or bad at communicating (not saying it is really the case! just that they could use it if you start to dispute their decision).
The medical argument is valid but not for 3 months + especially as they could argue all they needed was a phone call with you.

@Yeahnahmum

I didn't name change for this particular thread. Sometimes when I create a new thread on the webpage and then apply through the app, it pulls the previous name in.

Also, it's about the recovery after birth, which in my case was much longer than 6 weeks and especially cruel!

@Frankola: It sucks, so many managers don't have a conscience. Hope you find a better role soon.

Utter sympathy from me - the same happened to me when I was on mat leave with DC1 11 years ago. I was in the midst of PND at the time and it added to the awfulness of the whole first year.

Are you in a union?

Do you have copies of previous evaluation scores? can you show they have significantly changed with this latest review?

@WhenDoISleep Awful, isn't it. I wish employers would treat mothers with more respect

I got made redundant while on maternity leave and they didn't follow due process but seeing as I was umming and ahhing over whether to return anyway, and the payout was good, I didn't make a fuss. Wish I had though as it's stunted my career.

Seek advice. Then at least you have no regrets. Good luck on finding something even better!

@Brefugee

I'm not in any union unfortunately.

The scores haven't changed much, in my last evaluation from 2019 I also got a "good" in all categories.

But like I said before, they must have scored theother employees as "excellent" in order for me to be at the bottom of the list.

I know for a fact that the other employees don't do better work than me. There's even a guy who regularly was at least one hour late each day and didn't stay longer.

It all just seems so arbitrary and designed to stitch me up.

I'm sorry this has happened to you. I was fired (illegally) when i was pregnant and spent most of the time in court or fighting to get my money etc etc, and it was awful.

If they grade on a curve, and you got all good, there must be people with worse scores, surely. It is totally sucky, but unfortunately, i think you may not be able to fight this.

Please join a union - it is more important now than ever before.