Hello
I was recently informed that our team were at risk of redundancies and that a desktop exercise would be undertaken to determine which 2 people out of the 6 person team would be made redundant.
People were invited to apply for VS, but unsurprisingly, no one did. During the process it was confirmed verbally by the manager that a member of staff on mat leave would automatically be given a role and would not be subject to the desktop exercise. There was later backtracking to state that this person would be included in the desktop execution BUT the policy states that anyone on mat leave is automatically given a role.
I don't believe automatically excluding the mat leave person from the desktop exercise or automatically giving them a role purely because they are on maternity leave is fair. I think its actually discriminatory to everyone else.
I know that special protection exists on mat leave in that a person is automatically entitled to be given an alternative role but not that they are automatically kept in the roles that everyone else is undertaking a desktop exercise to retain.
The mat leave person has been given the role ahead of other hugely more experienced staff, including me. I am aware that HR asked the manager what she had told the mat leave person as I think they have realised that there is an issue with the policy.
I have been told that although I am very experienced and skilled- I wasnt proactive enough. I work part time and already have a huge workload, its not possible for me to be more proactive and in comparison to everyone else who was full time.
I work part-time due to chronic health conditions, arthritis, and believe I am classed as having a disability.
During lockdown i have been working at home alongside everyone else in the team, so I am struggling to see how the "proactive " element was assessed as we have very little interaction with the manager.
The company stated that they would supply home working equipment to staff over 3 months ago, despite applying for a desk and chair which I urgently need to help with my posture and to avoid aggrevating my condition, I haven't recieved these. I've raised this 4 times with the team responsible and my manager, highlighting my health condition, but I haven't got anywhere.
The company has form for ignoring the law, I was made to sign an NDA when I realised that I hadn't been paid for bank Holidays souring my maternity leave and it took thrm some time to update the policy afterwards, so potentially hundreds of women missed out on payments they were entitled to.
I've tried ACAS but the helpline is swamped and I'm stuck as to what do next. I think I have been discriminated against by automatically allocating a role tosomeone on maternity leave and also that I lost my job on the basis of being part time, although they deny my hours were an issue.