Mat leave discrimination?

[JamesWonder]

Hi,

Would appreciate some advice please.

I’m on mat leave and recently found out that my employer had hired someone external into a job I would have applied for had I been at work/known about it - it would be a promotion for me.

I didn’t see the job advertised and they didn’t tell me it was open. Before I went on mat leave I made it clear to my manager I’d be open to cutting my leave short if any opportunities came up.

I read that the onus is on the employer to inform employees of promotion opps when they’re on maternity leave.

Anyone wiser and more qualified than me able to tell me if they’ve done something wrong, or if I’m just overreacting and it’s tough that I missed the chance?

TIA

Ok you’re missing the point. I suspect on purpose as you don’t like it.

ask yourself this. If you already do it, and they don’t want to give you the role permanently, which is what this is, it was a total no go, then why is this

the question remains whay will you do. You can complain. But they will simply say oversight and you’d not have got it. Or leave, get the promotion at another company,

**There is no stand-alone requirement to inform an employee about internal vacancies while she is on maternity leave. However, consideration should be given to:

1. the enhanced protection from redundancy available to an employee on maternity leave
2. protection from discrimination under the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010)

www.lexisnexis.co.uk/legal/guidance/is-an-employer-legally-required-to-inform-employees-on-maternity-leave-about-internal-job-vacancies-or

Thing is, in this case it sounds like internal vacancies are 'advertised' by them being discussed in a team meeting or similar. Of course OP is disadvantaged if she doesn't hear about vacancies because she's not at the meeting while on ML.

If all vacancies were on a site like NHS jobs, and everyone, whether on leave or not, needs to log on and proactively look then not individually notifying those on ML wouldn't be disadvantaging them.

If your work email gets suspended on ML and that has a knock on of your access to the jobs site being suspended too, then that's a disadvantage and they'd have to notify you some other way.

It's about OP having the same access to information as colleagues who are in work, and if 'spoon feeding' is what happens in the office, then yes, it needs to happen on ML too. If they don't want to do that then they need a better system of notifying people both in and out of work, they can't just say 'oh, it was a bit of a faff so we didn't bother.'

It's exactly the same as if internal vacancies were only 'advertised' internally by being discussed in a gentlemens social club that doesn't admit women. That would be sex discrimination, and surely no one here would argue it wasn't?

Again, I don’t expect to be notified every single time a job opens up. But my manager oversees a team of 4, and is aware I’m interested in this particular role. If someone more qualified applied, of course they’d get it. I’d just like to have a chance to apply and express interest, even if I got nowhere.

No worries, good luck getting to the bottom of it.

If employees at work are not notified of vacancies that are only advertised externally then there is no need to actively bring these to the attention of people who are absent

I will probably discuss with manager. And yes I get what you're saying, I agree that they obviously don’t want to give me the job. The question is whether or not they were supposed to let me know it had opened up or not

You may not expect this. But posters on this thread have said exactly this

Thank you.

how did you hear that the person. recruited was recommended to the hiring manager?

Yes, but it sounds like normal procedure for OPs workplace is that vacancies are communicated internally.

I agree that I was never getting the job - just would have been nice to have the chance to apply at least.

so you don’t think you would have been a successful applicant even if you’d applied?

There is no specific law. Like a lot of employment law, situations like this are covered by general legislation and case law, which can contradict the actual law at times.

The Equality Rights Act 2010 s18 states a woman on maternity leave should not suffer detriment because she is on maternity leave.

It's a bit like there is nothing in law saying e.g. if an employer gives everyone a free day off, but they don't allow someone on mat leave to use this on their return (this is also discrimination).

So that link is correct - there is no standalone requirement. But there is a requirement to ensure women on mat leave are not disadvantaged. This includes ensuring they are aware, via practicable means, of any vacancies.

Hth.

I think I’ve demonstrated that I can do this job, so in theory yes I should definitely have had a chance. Otherwise I wouldn’t keep being asked to do it. I always think with any job it depends who you’re up against to an extent, so this person who got the job may well have been a better fit. This isn’t what I’m asking about though, I’m asking whether I should have been told about it. You seem determined to put me down when all I’m asking for is advice and agreeing with some of your posts. Are you an employer by chance?

That quote is from an article nearly 16 years old BTW.

so the PP advice that those in maternity leave should be notified of ALL job opps… is incorrect

how long ago did you give birth op?

I'm really not sure you're in a good or knowledgeable position to talk about someone's advice being incorrect tbh

Ok lashing out at people as you don’t like the message is not helping

the point remains, your boss knew you’d want this, they elected to not inform you , a proactive choice they made. They didn’t forget .they will argue differently but we all know it was a choice.

you surely can’t beleive this was an oversight and you’d have stood a chance of getting it if they remembered to tell you. As the point is the process is not the issue here.

the choice to not tell you and not interview you is, and you’re not addressing that, why did they not wish to give you the role.

ifyou don’t understand why and it appears you don’t. Then you need to speak to your manager, and make a decision on your future.

Exactly. Before the Equality Act.

May 2024

And electing not to tell her about a role which would be a promotion for her, while she is on maternity leave is… maternity discrimination. Agree Jane, OP needs to ask her boss. This isn’t on.

I work in HR. We’ve got a lot of recruitment. It takes me 10 minutes to export the week’s job links into an email template and blind copy in staff on maternity leave. 10 minutes. We send them all opportunities because while the law doesn’t spell out that we have to, not being in work means they aren’t accessing the internal jobs boards, not getting the weekly comms, and aren’t hearing about the roles in meetings or passing conversations. That’s how they are disadvantaged. A quick email fixes that.

While you are on Mat leave your employer must tell you about jobs being advertised and promotion opportunities.

I think if the job is advertised as normal through channels that are accessible, that counts though. I work for a company with 24,000 employees - they didn't contact me with every vacancy while I was in maternity leave, but I could still access the internal system of vacancies, which is how I'd do it if I wasn't on leave. Because some companies are massive I don't think there is any specific legal requirement for them to contact you specifically with every vacancy.

But if the only way this vacancy was announced was word of mouth and some internal emails OP didn't get, then I'd agree, it's discrimination.

This isn’t correct legally. Your employer shouldn’t exclude you from notification about promotions etc because youre on mat leave but if they’re advertising a job they have no particular duty to let you know, just because it would have been a promotion for you.

as a practical matter, I agree with pp that there isn’t likely to be a case for discrimination but of course this depends on all circumstances.