1 in 7 women made redundant after maternity leave. Plus, new guest blog from Maternity Action

[HelenMumsnet]

Hello.

Some of you may have seen this report in The Guardian of survey findings suggesting that one in seven women is made redundant after taking maternity leave.

The findings also suggest that 40% of the 1000 women polled found that, when they returned from maternity leave, their jobs had changed - with half reporting a cut in hours or demotion.

Does this surprise you? Or not? Maybe it's happened to you? Do share your thoughts...

*Update from MNHQ: We've now got a guest blog from Maternity Action over on the Bloggers Network. Do have a look, and let us know what you think about that, too.

[ElkiesBrook]

I was made redundant by 'default' I suppose you'd call it

I was covering ML as a temp, and was promised the FT contract as the woman in question had already given notice verbally.

She was just coming up to her last month of ML, and the company offered her redundancy. She accepted, I lost my job with immediate effect, no notice, nothing.

[KatieMiddleton]

Proving constructive dismissal is very, very, very difficult. The costs of making a tribunal claim with legal support run to tens of thousands of pounds and you cannot claim costs from the other side in normal cases.

It's often not worth the gamble for many women.

[Smithson6]

KateMiddleton one of my coworkers was successful at proving constructive dismissal at tribunal and she told me if she could go back she would not do it again. She said that the stress levels were unbelievable, her whole family suffered and that if she could go back, despite having won her case, she would have just picked herself up and moved on to another job.

[multitaskmama]

I have gone back to work after each of my three children. The first and second time was fine, it was on the same, pay, same terms and conditions with some home working thrown in. The third time, I was asked if I would come back and was asked to help the company find my "temporary replacement" which I did. 6 months later they didn't want me and kept my replacement. I was a little upset and felt let down as I'd been at the company for 10 years. It was a real kick in the teeth at the time but you have to get on with life. A month later, I found a job at the same company but different dept. It wasn't a pleasant job, but I managed to negotiate three days wfh and 2 days in the office. I wasn't too keen on getting this job so laid all my cards on the table, which to my surprise paid off and was hired the next day. 8 months later I lost this job as did many others due to dept being outsourced to India. Since then I changed career direction completely and went from It consultant to part-time property developer with my husband. This works well for us and gives me quality time with the family. We just had our first holiday in three years last month. What us women are great at is taking a bad situation and turning it around for the better! What seems like a nightmare at the time can sometimes be a blessing in disguise.

[Tenlittlefingersandtoes]

A round of redundancies were due before I told my boss I was pregnant. The week before I mentioned it we were advised that our department was safe. 1 week after I told my boss I was made redundant. Worked out for the best in the long run for me and my family but its so unfair all over.

[SmellieWellies]

What is interesting though is the question of 'being made redundant' means it is quite a formalised process, with records.

Alot of us here are talking about essentially being coerced to leave. Bullied, pushed, demoted. The stats on that would be harder to verify, as like me, many of the women here have said they ultimately made the choice to leave. So it looks like a resigning, when it was not really.

I think I was sidelined and yes demoted. Technically I was at the same level- but my job involved alot of travel, and I was always passed over for that. Other part timers travelled and then got time off in lieu, so it was not just being part time. I did have a one week trip to the States this year because our US office refused to take anyone else as it was my portfolio. Technically i was due for 4 days off as I work 3 days a week, travelled two and worked two extra, and my boss said to ask for that was 'taking the piss' and so i just got the 2 time off in liue days that a full timer would have gotten. So they got 2 extra days out of me for free. (plus really, I have worked so much overtime that i could have finished way back in September...)

Incidentally, I am 'not working' today and have been. And my boss has just called and begged me to extend my notice period beyond April as they 'really need' me.

(Ps- it is SnowyWellies here. Recent nc)

[KatieMiddleton]

Not necessarily a formal redundancy process SmellieWellies. As I posted up thread some exits labelled "redundancy" are nothing of the sort unfortunately.

Smithson6 yeah it's shit isn't it :(

[StephaniePowers]

I'm not shocked in the slightest. It's happened to several women I know. My boss tried it with one woman in my workplace but backed down when she said she'd take him to tribunal. I was the next pregnant one but was accommodated fairly well, but persuaded by him to become a full-timer again far too soon and had a workload greater than I could cope with heaped upon me. I lasted 6 months like that then stopped work to be a SAHM for a while. I was mired in the whole thing at the time, but looking back, if I had documented all the comments and demands I could have had a case for constructive dismissal.

[Wishiwasanheiress]

There are diff types of redundancy too depending on numbers involved. Many big firms just serve compromise agreements - agree to this doc or lose earned monies. Effectively sacking in nicer wrApping.

[sittinginthesun]

Happened to someone I know - she was made redundant from a city law firm when on maternity leave. She was one of their senior employment lawyers.

[JemimaMuddledUp]

I was made redundant whilst on maternity leave with my first child. Officially the redundancy happened the day I went back, but I was actually told that my job wouldn't be there when I got back during the week that DS was due

[LindaMcCartneySausage]

Yes, I was made redundant. "Restructuring" apparently, because there were too many people at my senior level . However, while I wasn't on maternity leave, I had an ectopic pregnancy which required (limited time - total 4 days) off work, so my company were, unfortunately, aware I was TTC. Fatal.

Their attitude, after initial sympathy, totally changed towards me. I was a maternity risk and was about to cost them money. Suddenly, from being top performer of my peer group and headhunted for my job, i was getting interim appraisals because there was "a perception" that my work wasn't up to scratch. I.e. they couldn't point to any examples and all comments were mysteriously anonymous, but wanted rid of me and had to go by the book. I was exceeding targets and had excellent client feedback. It all happened in about 4 months and I was made redundant along with mostly other women of childbearing age. Six months TO THE DAY they employed someone else in my role.

[Octopudding]

Happened to me, kind of. They made things so utterly soul-destroyingly vile for me when I got pregnant, I believe they wanted to just make me leave, before maternity leave would even kick in. I'd have had a good case for constructive dismissal, had things come to it. I'd been there nine years, no trouble, so for it to start when I came back from honeymoon, having been stupidly open that I'd be TTC on honeymoon, was rather suspicious. I ended up going on sick leave due to work-related stress when I was 17 weeks pg, and didn't go back! They were therefore forced to pay me sick leave for five months, then my full maternity package. Part-way through my ML, I got a letter that said they were considering making some Voluntary Redundancies, and wanted to gauge interest. I said I would be interested. My rep/solicitor ended up negotiating for me a very decent payoff/redundancy, which I happily took.

[McPheetStink]

I was made redundant whilst still on Mat leave

[ZuleikaJambiere]

I'm grateful that it worked in my favour. Less than a month before I was due to go on ML, a wave of redundancies were announced, and I was surprised that my (shared) position wasn't at risk as that position had been lost from several partner organisations at the time. All staff were offered a one to one with the CEO, so I asked why I was considered worth saving when elsewhere the role wasn't. She was very honest and told me that it all came down to the bottom line, and it was cheaper to have me on maternity than a redundancy payout, but if the bottom line didn't improve before my return then I may not have a job to return to.

My job share and I were on ML at the same time, and in that time our job descriptions were changed to create 2 unique PT roles rather than 1 FT role. The theory being that it would reduce duplication. In practise I suspect it was a clever move by my manager and the CEO to protect us both, so they couldn't bow to pressure to say the job could be done by just one PT member of staff. We are both still happily working there

Having read of the awful experiences on this thread, I'm very grateful that, in my case, pregnancy saved my job

[PoppyWearer]

I went back for four months before I was made redundant.

Half of my team went at the same time, but I do think there was a link to my maternity leave, not least because I hadn't been there to argue my team's case for survival (I was the manager).

[reawakeningambition]

I returned from. mat. leave to no work to do. Within a few months my useless boss started bullying me out.

He did me a big favour as I have run a successful business for nearly 9 years now.

[SizzleSazz]

I went back after first mat leave until my second. After that i returned and they had 'nothing suitable' as department restructuring had removed my previous role.

They offered me a (quite frankly rubbish) alternative role (which would have been career suicide) or to leave under a compromise agreement. If i didn't leave then I would be included in the next round of formal redundancies.

16 years i worked for them. Wankers

[goingwildforcrayons]

Yes it happened to me, made redundant whilst coming to end of ML. Luckily, I had anticipated and already started the job search. Whilst they did offer me a temporary job to cover another persons ML, I told them I had accepted another post elsewhere. This turned out to be a really good move for me and my family . So sometimes it can work out for the better.

Its a shame that some employers still question whether some women will be able to work, or if they will be distracted by becoming a mum. I'm the main breadwinner in our family, so I always have to be committed and dedicated to work.

[MammaTJ]

It did not happen to me, but I chose not to return to an emplyer who treated me badly and tried (but failed) to not pay me mat leave!

[MrsPennyapple]

No, I wasn't officially made redunant, but my employers must have been jumping for joy when I asked to return to work part time after mat leave. Despite the fact that about 60% of the company's employees are part time. They refused, I appealed, they refused again. Their reason being that due to restructuring, they could not re-distribute the workload between the remaining team members. I handed my notice in, as they knew I would. Funnily enough, they did not replace me. Guess they must have found a way to redistribute the work after all.

[GetKnitted]

happened to me

[BoysWillGrow]

me too :-(