To tell my prestigious job to do one

[Magnoliamarigold]

I recently returned from my mat leave, my job is as a postdoctoral researcher at an oxbridge university. Lots of Nobel prizes and OBEs at the department. When I got it it was my dream job.

I'm pouring from an empty cup. Baby is five months old and refusing to go to her dad, I am doing all the night feeds. The other day I slipped down the stairs and fell with the baby in my arms, and my back is in a bad way.

Because the role is so prestigious, my employer takes the . During my mat leave I was asked to use up all my KIT days voluntarily, so that publications could still go ahead. It was non negotiable. I was not paid during my mat leave despite being told I would be. I told them I was pregnant at the beginning of the year, but when I was in hospital being induced I was still having to answer emails about my mat leave as the HR woman hadn't yet got round to it. I have been asked to work on bank holidays, I have been asked to work 4/5 days a week even though I am contracted at 2.5 days. My boss is a professor who has not taken one sick day, or annual leave day in the entire time I have known her. She works bank holidays and a lot of weekends. She works when she's on holiday. Work is her life. Most recently I have been asked to take on a large amount of work that I probably would have been able to do previously, but I am so sleep deprived, my brain is so sluggish, and frankly I can't be bothered anymore.

I'm fed up, and tomorrow morning I am having an ad hoc review with this professor - she is unhappy with my work since coming back from mat leave and is clearly making a paper trail to give me some sort of kick up the and get me working at pace again.

I'm thinking of doing one of the following:

1. Make a record of all the unprofessional things I have had to put up with and use an HR mediator (albeit it might be the useless woman again, and will cause me a massive amount of stress)
2. Tell boss, shove it, I am taking the rest of my mat leave, take the financial hit and will come back when the baby is 1.
3. Work with her to improve my outputs in a way that everyone is happy

Has anyone been in this position? What should I do?

Talk to pregnant the screwed?

In your shoes I would probably check what my rights are, then 1 and / or 2.

Are you on a FTC? They don’t always pay maternity leave. Not quite sure how that’s possible but it’s my experience.

Not rtft, but I'd say have a union rep rather than a HR rep to facilitate your meeting if you want someone there. HR work for the university and ultimately are there to represent institutional not individual interests.
Good luck!

I'm so sorry you're going through this. I found returning from mat leave hard enough with an incredibly supportive boss and company, and after 13 months, so this situation is intense.

Academia is such a cult. As soon as you remove yourself from it you can see through it. People are treated terribly and it's not worth it. With your qualifications, there are so many other jobs that pay so much better and are more workable around children. Some types of consultancy, for example, or patent law?

Like others say, get some advice from Pregnant Then Screwed. Then work on a plan to leave! They can shove it - prestige is nothing if you're not willing to treat people like humans

I’m really sorry to hear this. Your supervisor’s behaviour would not be tolerated at my institution, and we are also high performing. Yes, long hours are common in academia but the culture is starting to change and funders are increasingly taking a dim view of behaviour like this. If HR are not helpful does the department/university not have any way you can anonymously raise concerns? Any other senior colleagues you could go to for advice? Do you have a departmental Athena SWAN committee?

What are your longer term career aspirations, do you want to become a PI?

Life is too short! I would be leaving pronto if I were you (recently I have done similarly with a well paid professional job and have not 1 regret despite having to rein in the finances as a result).

OP,

Does your School hold an Athena Swan award? Because this is directly contraryvto both the spirit and very likely the letter of the thing. You might find out who your School’s AS champion is and discuss what you have told us with them

Yep standard 3 year and I'm in year 2. To be honest it would be so good for my career to stay in the department but if I was fresh out of phd in my 20s I would have the energy. I did my phd at 33 and whilst, yes, we have papers in BMJ, Lancet etc I just don't know if it's worth the hassle. Looks great on my CV, and I do appreciate the absolute hell it must take to become a professor at this uni, but I wonder whether all of this is really worth it or not.

All I really want to do is sit and stare at my baby all day and go to the park.

a) it is incredibly odd you didn’t receive your maternity package as it my place (and other academic institutions I m aware of thru my former colleagues) you should be entitled to 6 months full salary pay which is then reduced to a % of it and in total you can get up to a year of paid maternity. The matter is definitely worth investigation and I would pester HR.
b) your boss is a bit of an arse and a fair share of such does exist in academia in the UK. However, this working style and attitude is incredibly common in the States. I’ m not sure if it’s possible but I would try to get as much out of option 2) as possible. Does she want you to do wet lab now? Any chance you can analyse some genome wide shit generated previously? Or look at something in publicly available datasets?
Basically, negotiate working from home for a few months and still try to “please” your boss if you really want to stay in the department?

The advice to contact a union, ACAS and pregnant then screwed is the best thing to start with before making any major decisions. Start collecting evidence and a paper trail sent to your own email/device in case you get locked out of their systems. I hope you have the energy to be able to hang on a few more weeks to get proper legal advice. I'm exhausted just reading your predicament, I really feel for you.

Saying that, even if you quit on the spot I'd imagine they would still be in serious shit by breaking employment maternity laws if you chose to persue it later (though there is a time limit for claims I believe).

I honestly can't believe they've let you go on unpaid maternity leave and still expect you to work during it!! I would have thought a strongly worded letter from a employment solicitor who has fully reviewed your case would help. Surely a payout is cheaper and less damaging for them than a tribunal?? I realise your mental health and child are more important than fighting a long tribunal so I wish you all the best. I think your employer sounds completely inept so I don't see how internal HR is going to fix this without you seeking third party advice. I just think they'll try to gloss over it!

combination of all options - tell them to stuff it and take them to court for constructive dismissal/sex discrimination. Enjoy your baby instead ❤️ Pregnant then screwed can help or I have a couple of numbers for lawyers past colleagues have used if you want to PM me.

Sounds terrible.

Can't really make out from your post if you have officially gone back from maternity leave yet or if you're just doing kit days and still officially on leave?

Check your policy, but usually kit days are only paid once you hit the unpaid part of maternity leave (after 39 weeks of statuatory pay has been used up) - this may explain why you haven't got paid anything additional to your mat leave pay.

Also what's your contract entitlement to mat pay? Some universities screw over post docs as some of them have a policy that you need to be there a year to get full occupational maternity pay and you need to return to work for a year to not to have to pay it back, so it's difficult to get the timing right with a 3 year fixed contract.

Either way your prof is completely out of order, but you need to check what your contract and policy actually says to get your facts straight.

Your health & baby has to come first !

Prof T G?

I wonder if the rules are different for fixed term contracts regarding mat leave. I am on fixed term and only get paid ssp if I am off sick wheras the rest of my office get full pay. It sounds like you needed longer off if you are so tired you can't focus on the job, although of course tiredness with babies can still extend way past a year.

I know this isn't what you're asking but Ex-postdoc here including at oxbridge. Did it for 5 years, moved to industry and never looked back. I get treated fairly, my voice is heard, I have flexibility, I still do interesting work and I don't have to put up with the sometimes ridiculous expectations of academia. My partner recently quit his permanent academic post, he's a different person now. I felt like a failure when I left academia but that rapidly disappeared and I love the security. Have you ever considered leaving?

Academia is rife with this. Are you part of a union? HR at universities are usually shite. Join a union. Your union rep will whip her into shape and remind her that she really does not want her name in the Guardian for exploitation/bullying.

You won't get this precious time with your baby back. You know what to do! You can keep the job and stay the 3 years quite easily with how they have treated you but only work your contracted days and do your matt leave.

I had a situation with a rubbish female boss 8 years ago - a dream job - prestigious academic / policy role that was made impossible by this woman.

I took legal advice - cost about £1200 - best money I ever spent. In the end after failed negotiations I walked stating irremediable breach of contract. My lawyer - a senior HR partner said some of the emails were the worst he'd seen in the last 5 years. I downloaded all emails, texts, documents etc before telling the employer my decision was to leave. I refused to tell them I wouldn't take a case, you have I think 3 months less a day to take a case.

I decided not to take to a tribunal as I didn't want it to eat up my life.. She was sacked a couple of years later. I found lots of support elsewhere in my networks and haven't looked back.

Look after yourself and your future career. You are clearly very talented to have got the post and there will be other opportunities for you elsewhere if in the end you decide to leave. But lots of steps before then and each situation is different. Your professor sounds like a bit of a bully from what you've said.

Good luck and surround yourself with support.

How are you not been paid for mat leave? That's usually taken care of at university HR level? Anyway, sounds horrific. I left 12 years ago to do medical writing and never looked back, postdoctoral research is the worst job in the world.

The first absolutely. One of my dearest friends - also Oxbridge lecturer - was bullied out of her job by very similar sounding female superior. This was 19 years ago and she’s still angry about it and the fact she didn’t fight it. The law is on your side here. Counter attack with allegations of harassment. Good Luck.

Leave, take to court, then name and shame!

Having been through a number of lengthy employment disputes in academia my experience has taught me people don’t change, they dig their heels in and their behaviour spirals when they feel under threat. Challenging this behaviour isn’t with the stress it generates. Take the extended leave and start looking for a new job

What length of service did you have when you went on mat leave? Did you qualify for mat pay through employer?

I’m on mat leave myself (and work in HR), I’d strongly advise you to talk with pregnant then screwed and also take the mat leave, you won’t get that time back with baby and I totally get the tiredness, this is baby no2 for me with a big gap, I’m exhausted!

@Bunnyfuller is correct. Straight to ACAS. This is disgusting treatment.
It’s likely your “bosses” don’t view themselves as employers and therefore know nothing about the law. They are employers and they have to operate within the law.
List everything. Call ACAS.
As an ex employer and with a Masters in Business Management I’m horrified at their behaviour. Tantamount to abuse.

I also work in academia. The way you are being treated is not ok. Sadly a lot of senior academics use post docs as workhorses to collect data or churn out papers which they then take all the credit for. There’s a huge amount of exploitation and bullying at your stage. Sounds like your Prof is a pretty classic case and part of that is expecting you to adopt her unhealthy work practices. But really, what will actually happen if the paper is published a few months later than expected, it’s not like anyone is going to die. Do prioritise yourself and your baby, take the year if you can.