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Original poster

Rehiring for my job on a permanent basis while I was on Mat leave

146 replies

questionsss · 12/05/2023 08:33

I am due to return from Mat leave ( 1 year ) soon.

I've just learnt that they've rehired someone for my position and don't plan to move me or them when I return. The role this person has, is only for one person and before I left ( it was my role obviously ). This person wasn't hired as a maternity cover or anything, just a full time employee.

I fear that this might be difficult when I return, as there isn't enough work for both of us.

Is this a normal thing for my company to have done ?

OP posts:
MouseMama · 13/05/2023 07:08

This happened to me. Both times I went on maternity leave they hired full time permanent person into the same role as me (albeit less experienced people). So after coming back after second maternity leave there were three of us doing the role I had done alone previously. It was a bit bonkers and we were all bored. Fortunately it didn’t affect pay and bonuses. I felt uncomfortable but thought they’d struggle to get rid of me without a discrimination claim so just took the money for a while and then happily landed a better role at another firm.

Hayliebells · 13/05/2023 07:17

I would get advice from Pregnant then Screwed, given that what they have done does have a detrimental financial impact on you. It could be seen as constructive dismissal, if you're forced to find a new job because you're now not getting the salary that you were pre-baby, due to the reduced comission. It would therefore be discrimination, as this has only happened as you have been on maternity leave. Do you have legal cover with your home insurance? That can be used for employment problems.

Original poster
questionsss · 13/05/2023 07:21

@WhoBird it's not actually unspoken, it's a requirement, which you're told about on your first day.

Anyway, I'm not frustrated at the responses. I'm just telling my side of the story and a bit more detail about my job.

As to what I'm going to do, I've made up my mind. I'm looking for a new job. I posted to understand it it's actually ok to hire a permanent person in my circumstances. It turns out this happens all the time, which I didn't know. I think if I pursued this with a solicitor etc ( which I don't want to do ), the company would obviously try to claim there's a business need etc. I can see by looking at past, current and future projections that this new person is going to make my job a lot more difficult and that there's no business sense in having two people do this job. It's very clear, if you're in the business, you can see it also doesn't line up with other hiring decisions that were taken.

I'm not in any mood to try and go through this process though. It could hurt my reputation and for what? I would rather just find another job and get on with it.

OP posts:
whiteroseredrose · 13/05/2023 07:38

FfeminyddCymraeg · 12/05/2023 08:40

As you’ve taken a full year off (additional maternity leave) you don’t have the guaranteed right to return to your previous role. They have to have you back and the role you do can’t be no less favourable in terms of salary, seniority etc. but it doesn’t have to be the exact role you left.

Could it be that you’re going to be expected to do something different?

I thought this too.

Paq · 13/05/2023 07:52

Ok, so if you are going in a sales type role with a number of accounts and you now have to share these with another person then it could be construed as maternity discrimination. But, it sounds like you would have to fight it and it could be hard to prove.

Please do speak to Pregnant Then Screwed. They may have had women in a similar situation that can help.

Mikimoto · 13/05/2023 08:00

I would rather just find another job

Isn't that perhaps just the reaction they were hoping for, as I imagine the new employee was hired with a lower salary than yours?

CabernetSauvignon · 13/05/2023 08:07

questionsss · 12/05/2023 08:38

No. If I hadn't left, they wouldn't have hired the person.

Show quote history

Are you absolutely sure of that? A lot could have changed while you were away, either in terms of the amount of work the firm is dealing with or the way it organises it.

DarrellRiversCriminalBehaviourOrder · 13/05/2023 08:15

That happened to me. New worker completely overtook my role and outsourced everything he couldn't do, so when I returned I literally had no work. I had some ideas of what I could do to be productive despite all this but they were shot down. Weirdly, I wasn't made redundant even though I was very clear with my manager about what the problem was.

In the end, I negotiated a degree of homeworking (this was pre pandemic, before it was so common) and used the time to job hunt. I figured I could just enjoy being paid to write applications at home and surf the net in the office.

Original poster
questionsss · 13/05/2023 08:23

@CabernetSauvignon I'm absolutely sure no one would have been hired, unless I would have been fired. It's not a place for two people and the other hiring decisions made during my time, as well as the goals achieved, mean that there was and still isn't a requirement for two.

Of course you can Chuck two people or more anywhere and hope for the best, but they won't all survive. I've also been given the short straw in terms of customers. The new person has all the most productive ones etc.

OP posts:
Gh12345 · 13/05/2023 08:29

The person who covered my maternity stayed when I returned. No issue and we got on so well.

BowiesJumper · 13/05/2023 09:10

I would speak to Pregnant then Screwed, obviously it’s nuanced but I wouldn’t let this go personally. By all means line up another job but if it’s subtle constructive dismissal, then you shouldn’t let them get away with it.

holaholiday · 13/05/2023 09:13

I feel for you OP, i'm another who ended up leaving a job that i'd built up the role for over a number of years, I was very proud of my work history and work ethic but some managers/companies continue to act like sh!!t towards returning mums after mat leave . No wonder there's a recruitment/retention problem and brain drain for women over a certain age in certain sectors. Good luck for your next role and I hope they appreciate you more.

LondonJax · 13/05/2023 09:15

I understand, I think @questionsss

It's like you sell a certain product or service. They would have needed someone to do the job whilst you were away but, now you're back, it only needs one person to do it. Otherwise, you would see another person being brought on in the production department or the invoicing department (add department as needed) to counterbalance the increased sales by (now) two people instead of one. So, in effect, you have a mirror image doing other 'stuff' related to the amount of things/service you sell and they've not increased the 'mirror image' people which means the work hasn't increased, they've just shared it. Which has impacted your ability to earn.

I'd get in touch with ACAS to talk it through. They can give advice, whether you take it is up to you, and you can take it as far as you want then.

Or, as you say, you can look for another job. Which it may come it anyway if the work isn't there now. Either your company is being very sneaky and trying to get rid of the person who may possibly take maternity leave again by making the job unworkable or they genuinely have a case that you can't see. But you need help to get the right questions on the table, if you want to stay with the company.

WomblingTree86 · 13/05/2023 09:18

It sounds like your job has effectively been given to someone else. You may still have the title but if you are paid less because of this I would have thought you would have a case to claim for maternity discrimination and constructive dismissal if you leave. It Is probably worth speaking to a solicitor.

BHRK · 13/05/2023 09:22

I also would speak to Pregnant then Screwed for legal advice

SheilaFentiman · 13/05/2023 09:27

It is possible they will give it a while and then run a redundancy process between the two of you.

burnoutbabe · 13/05/2023 09:39

SparklyBlackKitten · 12/05/2023 13:31

So you are coming back to work and have to do half the work for 100% pay

Sounds like a win to me 😆

Bit it may be much less pay if it's a sales job and lots of the pay is commission?

Greenfairydust · 13/05/2023 09:41

Some of the people on this thread are being really dense/antagonistic just for the sake of it...

Back to you OP: It sounds like this is now a very uncomfortable situation where your clients/projects now have to be decided between people with your colleague getting preferential treatment by being given the best clients and it also is causing friction with the other person.

Very likely that they were expecting you not to come back or to want to move to a part-time role and they anticipating this by hiring someone to take over your responsibilities long term...

Definitely smacks of discrimination.

I know you are job hunting, but I would be tempted to formally raise this as an issue with HR and your manager and see what a formal complaint can achieve first: not a complaint about discrimination for now but simply raising the issue that there is not enough work for 2 people and that you are not able to do the job you had been previously doing by having to randomly share what should only be your workload with someone else and that you are concerned about the type of projects/clients that you are being given compared to your colleague's.

I would also get legal advice and contact the organisation that people suggested.

I would not just let that go and be pushed out.

It really is disgusting that so many employers still behave in this way when women return from maternity leave.

Caulidop · 13/05/2023 09:48

whiteroseredrose · 13/05/2023 07:38

I thought this too.

Show quote history

This isn't true. If the role still exists, the returning employee is entitled to that job. What you are referring to is to cover times when restructure/downsizing, etc may happen and the previous role may no longer exist. It isn’t to screw over someone returning from mat leave.

SheilaFentiman · 13/05/2023 10:15

“Some of the people on this thread are being really dense/antagonistic just for the sake of it...”

Agree. OP knows her own workplace and I would assume that typically eg a new sales person and eg a new account manager are hired together if there is truly an expansion, and there has been no such tandem hire here, indicating that there isn’t really a belief on the part of the employer that there’s more work now than a year ago.

“Very likely that they were expecting you not to come back or to want to move to a part-time role and they anticipating this by hiring someone to take over your responsibilities long term...”

Agree. They may also have struggled to find a person who wanted only a year-long contract.

EDVLL · 13/05/2023 11:14

This happened to me too…the workload had increased significantly and I actually work very well with my ‘mat cover’ now fellow team member well. The role has changed slightly to fit both of us in, but it means less travelling for me which isn’t a bad thing.

Maybe go back and see how it is for a little while, if anything has changed you could always speak to HR or get outside advice.

Woopzies · 13/05/2023 11:48

Could this be a way to get rid of you, OP?

'Introduce B whilst A is away. When A is back, they won't be able to work together, and A will just quit'

SheilaFentiman · 13/05/2023 11:58

I don’t think the employer needed to have any nefarious intent. If they wanted to get a cover person for a year but couldn’t, or if they wanted to hire perm in case OP didn’t come back at all or part time, then that could be an explanation.

The trouble is how to handle it now. Currently the manager is denying there is a problem. However, if they truly believe there is enough work for two
people, they should be working out how to split the clients fairly and giving both people targets to build their pipelines

100daystogo · 13/05/2023 12:30

If you ever wanted to drop your hours and part time roles are super hard this your chance. Similar thing happened to me and i asked for 3 days. I’m pretty much the only person on 3 days on the whole company as it’s super unheard of, I used the situation to my advantage

SarahDippity · 13/05/2023 12:43

Sorry you have experienced similar before @questionsss and it sounds like you are being given the crumbs for when you return.