. . . to be absolutely furious at what work have done to me?

[CanTheyDoThisToMe]

Or should I "suck it up" as I was told by a senior colleague this morning?

I was on maternity leave during 2020. My company had a restructure and they reduced two manager roles (one was mine) down to one role. When speaking about the new role during the consultation period, my boss said the new role was the same grade/level as my old role. As the other manager chose to leave, I was given the role by default, and received a letter confirming my title change and stating that terms and conditions would be the same.

Fast forward a few months and I'm back from maternity leave, working hard to cover both teams, stressed at the additional responsibility. And now I find out by accident (noticed it on the HR system) that my grade is one lower than it used to be. It's not a mistake, when asked, my boss just said he wanted to tell me that the role had been demoted when we were 'back in the office' rather than when I was on maternity leave.

I'm furious. Not only have I got twice the responsibility for zero reward, but I will now no longer be eligible for annual payrises because I'm at the top of the lower grade payband, and my bonus will correspondingly be less too.

Not to mention that it's insulting to be demoted but given so much more work.

What should I do? I'm so angry. I've raised a complaint but they've said the decision stands.

There’s a very similar thread running that has lots of legal info on it, might be worth a look.

Sounds like maternity discrimination. I'd speak to ACAS tomorrow.

An unauthorised, one-sided variation is likely to be a breach of the contract of employment, and the fact that the employer has given you notice of the change will not make it lawful. However, if you put up with the change without protesting, there is a good chance that you will be viewed as having implicitly accepted the change, losing your right to object to it.

You should consider regularly registering your opposition to the change (e.g. every month) and pursuing a claim in the employment tribunal for, say, unlawful deduction from wages. Any action would need to be taken very quickly, after taking proper legal advice.

Yep they are definitely in breech of something.

They clearly haven't followed the correct consultation process, if nothing else. I'm not sure you can do anything about the role being downgraded if it's an across the board thing as part of a restructure but I would say you have cause for a grievance over the way it has been communicated. It's no excuse to say you were on Mat Leave at the time - they could have phoned you, face-timed you, arranged a socially-distanced work meeting.

Pretty sure I’ve read this exact post before

I feel so strongly about it, I'm prepared to fight it as far as I need to. I guess I need to contact an employment law solicitor.

I'm just gobsmacked by the audacity of the company. I feel betrayed.

I'll have a look for the other similar threads and see what advice has been posted on there.

Assuming you are in the UK: You have the right to return to the same job on the same terms after ordinary maternity leave. If this is not possible because there have been significant changes to the organisation, you may be offered a similar job....but in this case, the job cannot be on worse terms than before.

So I agree that this sounds like it could be discrimination. You don't say whether you raised a formal grievance under your organisation's grievance policy, I would check this policy out and involve the HR department if you have one. Normally a grievance policy should offer the right of appeal.

If this doesn't get you anywhere you may well have legal redress.....but I suggest you could give them a chance to put this right first.

Did your manager tell you in writing that your post would be the same grade as before?

I'd find yourself a very good employment lawyer to take this up on your behalf.

That’s awful. I don’t think it’s maternity discrimination but I think they’ve done it and hoped you wouldn’t notice it. Have you still got the email or letter saying everything would be the same still in the new role? I would firstly now email your HR include your manage in there and ask what has happened as you accepted the role on these terms. If they don’t offer anything then I would then look to a solicitor. I had to take my previous employer to court and it’s a costly experience so I would try and deal with it out of solicitors first.

You said you were given a letter confirming terms and conditions. Surely that's your new "contract"? What grade did that say on it?

Thanks @Livingtothefull - I sent my boss an email outlining my complaint, who in turn sent it to HR. I was worried about ruining the relationship with my boss by raising a formal grievance but I guess it's ruined anyway.

No, @tealandteal, but equally I have nothing in writing saying that my grade had changed either.

I hate this. It's horrible. I'm having anxiety dreams and I feel panicky loads.

The letter didn't have any grade on it, @buttheywereonlysatellites - it literally just said "confirming your new role as XYZ Manager. All terms and conditions remain the same."

@CanTheyDoThisToMe

The letter didn't have any grade on it, *@buttheywereonlysatellites* - it literally just said "confirming your new role as XYZ Manager. All terms and conditions remain the same."

Surely that's your answer... all terms and conditions remain the same. Therefore same pay grade. I can't see how your company have a leg to stand on!

@CanTheyDoThisToMe

The letter didn't have any grade on it, *@buttheywereonlysatellites* - it literally just said "confirming your new role as XYZ Manager. All terms and conditions remain the same."

I'm not an employment lawyer but surely this is your answer, isn't it? I'd get some advice from ACAS and Pregnant and Screwed. Are you in a union?

If you have it in writing that all terms and conditions remain the same, then escalate this to the head of HR promptly. Read your company's grievance policy and go through it step by step. It's crackers.
Employment lawyers are expensive so give them the opportunity to sort it first.
I am sorry this is happening to you, I know first hand how stressful this kind of thing can be.
But don't muddle your argument by complaining about the amount of work.Your argument is just that you were told the terms and conditions were the same but they are patently not.

Yes, no need to be angry, just point it out to them.

What a gang of bastards. No wonder your counterpart left.

This sounds extremely illegal to me.

I can't see how it could be other than maternity discrimination. During your maternity leave you were demoted to a lower grade. Not only this but you were told your t & cs would remain the same. This was a lie.

I'll try to keep emotion out of it. I think as time has gone on I've got more upset about it as I've realised the unfairness, in view of the huge increase in responsibility.

I agree I need to just stay calm and work through the processes though.

Put it in writing if you haven't already. I would be emailing your manager and saying "further to our conversation on (date) I am very unhappy that you have changed my job grading without consultation and my knowledge. I am working under protest until this is resolved and I am very unhappy that you have told me to suck it up"

I’ve learnt recently that there are several things that are contractual and several things that are not (just gone through TUPE) and they weren’t all the things I thought they would be. Pay grade wasn’t something that was covered in my case but in a previous restructure they changed the grades of many roles. This was allowed as long as the benefits remained the same - no docking of pay, holiday, company car etc. In this case there was a good deal of clear communication. It may be that what your company have done is not legally wrong but it’s definitely not right how they’ve done it.
It doesn’t sound like maternity discrimination to me. It’s just coincidence that you were on maternity.

I am really surprised that HR did not ensure this was dealt with appropriately OP, their job is to identify a risk (repetitional/financial) to the organisation which certainly potentially applies here.

The ACAS Code of Practice sets out how grievances should be handled, did they follow this? (eg arrange a grievance meeting with you/allow you the right to be accompanied/offer you an appeal). This also states that you should try to resolve the matter informally first - which you did by sending your email.

The attached link sets out the Code and gives advice about how to raise a grievance:

www.acas.org.uk/grievance-procedure-step-by-step

If you do choose to raise a formal grievance then suggest you check your organisation's policy to find out how to do it and where to address it.

You should not be disadvantaged in any way for raising a grievance as that would be victimisation..however if you are worried about your relationship with your manager you could frame the grievance as purely factual, rather than specifically naming the manager. You would be doing them a favour anyway by giving them a further chance to rectify this.

I would always advocate trying to resolve things internally first through organisational procedures....then if you do have to go down the legal route you have shown that you have done your best to be reasonable. Plus, legal action can be costly and take a long time to resolve.

They are in breach of contract and also maternity law. The position you returned to cannot be lower than the one you left.

Follow their grievance process, but if you can get a free consultation with an employment solicitor then have a chat with one just so you know what to do and how it will play out. Do not let this drop because then it will appear as though you have accepted the new terms.

This advice is really helpful, thank you so much. I appreciate your replies. I will do as you've all advised - grievance, keep it all factual rather than personal etc.

I'd love for it just to get resolved so I can forget about it - it's eating me up inside when I should really be focusing all my energy on the job.