Collective grievance

[luislovesme]

Has anyone ever heard of this?
I work with a team of 20 other females.
Last year our manager went off on maternity leave, and will be due back this summer at some stage.
We work for a large company with many units in the area.
Only when the new manager came in did we see how cruel the old manager was, we were refused basic human rights, denied holidays, spoken down to, bullied daily and given no support.
The new manager has made work like a new place, supportive and helpful, a nice person and our unit is performing better than it ever has before.
My ask is that can we collectively raise a grievance to keep the new manager in place? I would honestly resign on the same day that the old manager returned, and more than half of the other staff agree.
We have not been told anything by senior directors, and our new manager says that it's not her decision, but she too wants to stay.
Every day I dread that we will be told that she has to leave.
If we wrote to the directors to raise our concerns would this stand up?
I feel like time is running out before we all start to dread work every day
Thanks for reading

If you don’t want her back you had better do something. Strength in numbers and specific examples will be important, as well as demonstrating that the performance and productivity of the team is at least as good under the new manager

Difficult one because she's on maternity leave and none of these issues were raised before that

They are not want to do anything in case she claims discrimination and let's face it, it could be made into a believable case

Your manager is entitled to her job back when she returns from maternity leave. If she has taken 6 months she must be given her job back. If she has taken more than 6 months she must still be given her job back if it still exists, which it clearly does. If you raise a grievance now, your employer will be in a difficult position. They can take disciplinary action against your manager, but they will have to be careful or she could sue for discrimination. And, as this appears to be the first time you and your co-workers have complained, it is at most likely to lead to a warning of some kind rather than dismissal.

We have never complained directly as we honestly were living in fear of crossing her.
We had no clue that we could even approach higher management (something that the new manager has gone over during appraisals, reassurance that if we are unhappy with anything that we feel isn't dealt with, to know that there are actually other people who can help)
The old manager has a reputation within the company for being unkind, selfish and is not liked at all, it's not that people are not aware, it just hasn't been officially raised
We're stuck, if we come together as a group and nothing gets done, we most definitely will have a worse time at work

I think it would be difficult for the company to take action at this stage unless it was for a very specific and serious act of misconduct. However why don't you raise your concerns as a group with senior management and leave it at that. At the very least it will put them in the picture if her behaviour when she returns leads to grievances being raised

Yes Thankyou
We will at least try do for something.
I feel for the new boss, she is very professional and maintains that the decision is out of her hands.
There are other units within the company that the old or new manager could be transferred to, if that makes a difference?

You may be out of time for a grievance.

Ideally involve your TU to act on your behalf.

Write a time line of events with supporting evidence. Include number of holiday days lost, Impact on individuals etc. Keep it factual and do not make any demands/requests.

Forward the timeline and evidence to HR and senior management as a collective grievance and request a meeting to discuss the issues.

HR/management need to balance the employment rights of all parties but should agree to meet with you all to discuss what needs to change.

HR/Management should then talk to your manager on mat leave advise her of the issues and discuss options for her return e.g. management training, new role etc.

It may be that the manager returns to her role but now you know how you should be treated you can report her if she steps out of line.